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ANDREW S. DRAPER 




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COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 




Cofyri^rht l,y l\ 



vood i:~ riuh-vu,- d. 

The Cuban Senate in Session. 



The 

Rescue of Cuba 

Marking an Epoch in the Growth 
of Free Government 



By 

Andrew S. Draper, LL.B., LL.D. 

Commissioner of Education of the State of New York 
Formerly President of the University of Illinois 




Silver, Burdett and Company 

New York Boston Chicago 






Copyright, iSgg, igog, igio 

By 

Silver, Burdett and Company 



©Hi A::?5Q^^08 



TO THE HEROIC YOUTH 

OF OUR COUNTRY 

WHO AT THE CALL OF DUTY DO NOT HESITATE TO 

OFFER THEIR LIVES FOR FREEDOM AND THE FLAG. 



Preface to the Enlarged Edition 

THE first edition of this little book was prepared ten 
years ago to illustrate to American youth the spirit 
which led the American people to drive Spain from Cuba ; 
as well as to give the war with Spain what the writer 
conceived to be its proper setting in the long and thrilling 
story of the progress of democracy in the world. It was 
the intention to point out the horrors as well as the hero- 
isms of war, and both to stir and steady the proper ambi- 
tions of the young people of our country. The writer 
tried to show that government is more a burden than 
a privilege or a pleasure. It was hoped to use the facts 
and the results of the Spanish contest in ways which 
might lead more people to think of the cost and the 
worth of self-government. 

Now, with more history to draw from, and with added 
experiences to enlighten us, the book is extended and 
brought down to date in the hope that it may go further 
and accomplish more. 

A. S. D. 

Albany, N. Y., 

August, 1909, 



Contents 

CHAPTER I 
Historic Misgovernment by Spain 

PAGE 

Spain's part in the world's contest for freedom ; Characteristics of 
the Spaniards ; Bravery and courtesy ; Corruption and cruehy ; 
Spain's original territorial importance; Greatness of her em- 
pire ; Vastness of her dreams ; Her self-destructive methods ; 
Results of her methods upon her own people ; Loss of the 
Netherlands ; Loss of other European possessions ; Losses in 
America and the East Indies ; A few details of Spanish in- 
humanity ; Final effect of Spanish misgovernment . . 15-27 

CHAPTER n 
Spanish Misrule in Cuba 

Beauty of Cuba ; Size, population, climate, and resources of Cuba ; 
Cuba's early history and Spain's short-sightedness ; Spanish 
hostility to education ; Series of Cuban revolts ; English and 
Spanish colonial policies compared ; Exhausting Cuba ; Tax- 
ation without representation and without benefits ; Official 
corruption ; Absence of personal liberty ; The " Ten Years' 
War " ; Rebellion of 1895 ; Weyler's barbarity and war upon 
the helpless ; Famine and death ; Making a desert and calling 
it " peace" ; Cuban intrepidity ; Voice of the United States. 2S-39 

CHAPTER HI 
Rescue by the United States 

American foreign policy ; Washington's Farewell Address ; Monroe 
Doctrine ; Change of policy towards Cuba forced by the 
masses ; Case of the Virginius ; American commercial inter- 
ests ; Growth of popular feeling ; Destruction of the Maine ; 
Patriotic excitement ; The lights turned on ; Learning the 
truth ; Investigations and statements by Senators Proctor and 



CONTENTS 



Thurston ; Popular demand for war ; The President's pacific 
yet energetic course ; $50,000,000 voted for defense by Con- 
gress ; Official report on the destruction of the Maine ; The 
President's message ; The declaration of war ; A war for 
humanity ; The noble pledge ; Lofty national ideal . 40-52 

CHAPTER IV 
The Preparation 

American confidence in American ability ; Unprepared for war ; 
Folly of unreadiness ; Size of our regular army ; Excellence 
of our trained soldiers ; Neglect of the army by Congress ; 
Dependence on volunteers ; The President's call for volun- 
teers ; Character and organization of the volunteers ; The 
Krag-Jorgensen rifle and smokeless powder ; Hasty prepara- 
tions ; The navy better prepared ; Buying vessels ; The re- 
serves ; Naval guns ; Accurate gunnery ; Training the navy ; 
The hospital ship ; Lack of dry-docks ; Making smokeless 
powder ; Secretary Long's foresight ; A critical situation ; Un- 
hesitating courage ........ 53-66 

CHAPTER V 
Dewey's Battle in Manila Bay 

The first blow on the other side of the world ; The Philippine 
Islands and their importance ; Defenses of Manila ; The 
Pacific fleet starting for Manila ; A daring venture ; Confidence 
of victory ; Entering the harbor ; The first gun and the answer ; 
Waiting for closer range ; The assault at daybreak ; Gallantry 
of the American flagship ; Destructicm of the Spanish flagship ; 
Spanish ships burning ; Withdrawing to examine the maga- 
zines and serve breakfast ; A council ; Renewal of the as- 
sault ; The white flag ; Complete victory ; The amazement 
of the world 67-80 

CHAPTER VI 
The Attack on Santiago 

Sailing of our Atlantic fleet ; The blockade ; First actions ; The 
new army ; The first army movement ; Admiral Cervera's 
formidable fleet arrives ; Locating Cervera at Santiago ; 
Lieutenant Blue's daring reconnoissance ; Lieutenant Hob- 
son's exploit; A "bottled" fleet ; Heroism of marines at Gu- 
antanamo ; Welcoming General Shafter ; Landing of troops ; 
"Old Glory" on Cuban soil; The advance; Spirit under 
great difficulties ; Boundless courage and steady progress . 81-93 



CONTENTS y 

CHAPTER VII 
The Attack on Santiago (^Continued) p^ge 

Rapid movement of events ; Sharp fight of the " Rough Riders " 
and colored regulars at Guasimas ; Pushing forward towards 
Santiago ; Formidable obstacles ; Problem of General Shaf- 
ter ; Fortifications at El Caney and San Juan ; Opening of 
the battle at El Caney ; Rapid fire on both sides ; Steadiness 
of American troops ; The creeping advance under deadly fire ; 
A desperate charge ; Capture of El Caney ; Spanish tribute to 
American gallantry ; Losses at El Caney ; Opening of battle 
at San Juan ; Derangement of original plans ; March through 
narrow trail ; Sharpshooters in trees ; The war balloon ; The 
charge without orders ; The irresistible rush ; The private 
soldier ; Terrible cost of victory ; Holding the ridge ; De- 
mand for surrender of Spanish army ; Escape of Spanish 
fleet 94-113 

CHAPTER VIII 
Destruction of Cervera's Fleet 

The fateful Sunday, 3rd of July ; The waiting American fleet ; The 
absent Admiral ; The alarm, " The enemy's ships are coming 
out"; The instant rally; Opening fire; The Gloucester 
"remembers the Maine"; Destruction of torpedo boats; 
Helping the enemies ; Three Spanish warships destroyed ; 
Captain Philip's chivalry ; The great chase of the Colon by 
the Brooklyn and the Oregon ; Heroes under the decks ; 
The five-mile shot and the Colon's surrender ; Spanish losses ; 
The victory of skill and discipline ; Spirit of thanksgiving for 
the extraordinary triumph ...... 1 14-123 

CHAPTER IX 
The Winning of Cuba and Puerto Rico 

Fourth of July with the army ; Anxiety followed by confidence ; 
Sufferings of the American troops ; Depression of the Span- 
iards ; Parleys about surrender ; Hardship and exhaustion ; 
Reinforcements ; Reverence for the flag ; The generous 
terms offered to the enemy ; Spanish politeness and curiosity ; 
The capitulation of 23,000 Spaniards ; Scenes on entering 
Santiago ; The star-spangled banner over the palace ; Cheers 
from the trenches ; General Miles's expedition to Puerto Rico ; 
Surprise and strategy ; Welcome in Ponce ; Friendly greet- 
ings everywhere ; General Miles's proclamation ; Releasing 
prisoners ; A joyous campaign ; Advance on San Juan ; A 
battle stopped ; The end of fighting in the West Indies . 124-135 



10 CONTENTS 

CHAPTER X 
The Fall of Manila and the Suit for Peace p^^. 

Need of troops for Manila ; Admiral Dewey's long waiting ; Care- 
ful preparation of General Merritt's expedition ; Peculiar in- 
terest in this expedition ; The arrival at Manila ; The delicate 
problem ; Aguinaldo and the Philippine insurgents ; Trouble- 
some friends ; General Merritt's wisdom ; The demand for 
surrender ; The parley ; Arrangements for attack ; The as- 
sault ; The surrender ; General Merritt's tribute to his 
soldiers ; A real foothold gained in the East ; Spain's suit for 
peace ; The protocol of peace ..... 136-146 

CHAPTER XI 
The Spirit of American Soldiers and Sailors 

American compassion for the oppressed ; The people's war ; Men 
of the army and navy worthy representatives of their country ; 
Spanish surprise at humane ways of Americans ; General and 
special heroisms of Americans ; Admiral Dewey's gallantry 
and wisdom ; Lieutenant Rowan in the enemy's country ; 
Lieutenant Hobson and the Merrimac ; General Wheeler and 
Colonel Roosevelt ; Patient and generous sufferers ; Lieu- 
tenant Ord and the two boy privates ; Young heroes on the 
Brooklyn ; A clever Cuban and his beast ; The daring and 
dutiful newspaper men ; The heroic women ; The President's 
moral courage and wise statesmanship ; The fury of a just 
indignation 147-169 

CHAPTER Xn 
The Settlement 

The Peace Commission ; New methods in diplomacy ; The treaty ; 
Justice of American demands ; Review of reasons for the war ; 
Its enormous cost ; Wiser views about preparedness for war ; 
European surprise as to our fighting qualities ; Our surprise at 
smallness of aid from Cubans ; New spirit of union among the 
American people ; Better relations with Great Britain ; Our 
entrance into \vider relations and responsibilities ; Our present 
problem and duty for Cuba ; The acquirement of Puerto Rico ; 
;The Philippine question ; Conflicting views ; The predomi- 
inant opinion ; Our future policy with the Philippines ; Addi- 
tions of territory and people not unusual ; Question of 
/citizenship not immediate ; Duty to educate and develop the 
'new peoples under our flag; Safety in accepting national 
duties ; Destiny of the English-speaking race ; Its ability to 
govern ; The war an episode in the growth of freedom ; Its 
ends will be completely accomplished .... 170-186 



CONTENTS 11 

CHAPTER XIII 
The Results in the PhiHppines 



Ten years later; Purpose and policies of United States ; Aiding to- 
ward self-government ; Taft's work on Commission ; Wood as 
commander of army in Philippines ; President's powers, limi- 
tations and opportunities ; McKinley's attitude ; Roosevelt's 
words and acts ; What Taft did as Governor-General ; No false 
promises to Filipinos ; Taft as Secretary of War ; Insular 
administration no longer a novelty ; Realization of moral respon- 
sibility ; Development of school system ; Commercial activity ; 
Public improvements ; Separation of church and state ; Con- 
trast between Spanish and American infantry ; Military govern- 
ment gradually to give way to civil ; Officers, except Governor 
and Treasurer, chosen by people ; Philippine Congress trains 
in self-government by practice : Filipinos in judicial and police 
systems ; United States has lacked generosity in trade relations ; 
Modifications in tariffs ; Need of industrial training ; Indepen- 
dence a question of the future 187-198 



CHAPTER XIV 
The Results in Cuba 

Independence ; Responsibility of United States ; Requirements of 
Congress ; Objections in Cuba ; Sketch of Cuba's possibilities ; 
Constitutional Convention ordered ; Dissatisfaction over Piatt 
amendment ; Convention held Nov. 5, 1900; Constitution fol- 
lows United States principles ; Education provided for ; Man- 
hood suffrage ; Departments of government ; President's powers 
and duties ; Judiciary ; Comprehensive plan ; Election Dec. 
31, 1901 ; Palma inaugurated ; Congratulations of United 
States ; Troops withdrawn ; Troubles of Palma administra- 
tion ; Chaos impending ; Appeal to United States ; Second 
rescue ; Return of troops ; Magoon appointed provisional 
governor ; Condition of country; Needed improvements put 
through ; Preparation for resumption of insular government ; 
A reliable census ; Another general election ; Gomez inaugu- 
rated ; Magoon and associates return to United States ; Troops 
again withdrawn ; Congratulations once more exchanged ; Self- 
government re-established 199-219 



12 CONTENTS 

CHAPTER XV 
The Results in Puerto Rico 

PAGE 

Situation and size of island ; Characteristics of people ; Few trou- 
bles with Spain ; Treaty of Paris gives sovereignty to United 
States ; People gratified and expectant of benefit ; New govern- 
ment somewhat disappointing ; American citizenship withheld; 
United States obliged to move slowly ; Difticulties of a democ- 
racy ; Progress under American control ; Industrial quicken- 
ing ; Improved school systems ; Federal aid in education ; 
Increased imports and exports ; Outlook hopeful ; Claims upon 
citizenship ; United States should be generous in commercial 
support 220-224 

CHAPTER XVI 

The Results in the United States 

World formerly ruled by force ; Present-day government by law ; 
Different peoples require different government ; American 
capacity for accomplishment and progress ; Duty of United 
States toward Cuba plain ; Obligations to our wards ; Must 
help them to help themselves ; New problem in human history; 
United States wins respect of other nations; Increased influ- 
ence and responsibility ; Settling down to our task ; Demo- 
cratic government better understood ; National progress ; Free 
political initiative ; Advance in moral force ; World progress ; 
International peace ; Course of United States an inspiration to 
her youth ; Learning through doing ; A nation to love . 225-235 



List of Illustrations 

PAGE 

The Cuban Senate in Session . , . Frontispiece 
Rulers and Leaders of Spain . . . . .22 
A Map of the Seat of War in the West Indies . . 28 
A Cuban Farmer's Family before Weyler's Edict of 

Concentration ....... 34 

Spaniards Driving in the Reconcentrados . . 38 

President McKinley and Famous Officials . . 44 

A Group of American Major-Generals ... 50 

Four Fighting Admirals 62 

A Map of the Philippine Islands .... 68 
The Battle of Manila Bay, May I, 1898 ... 74 
A War Map of the Santiago Campaign ... 90 
Charge at El Caney, July i, 1898 . . . .102 

Winning the Crest of San Juan Hill, July i, 1898 . 108 
On the Deck of the Gloucester, July 3, 1898 . .116 

Charge of the Brooklyn and the Oregon in the Sea- 

Fight of July 3, 1898 120 

The Messenger of Peace, Puerto Rico, August 13, 

1898 134 

American Volunteers Entering Manila, August 13, 

1898 142 

The Merriraac Entering Santiago Harbor, June 3, 

1898 154 

Colonel Roosevelt and Lieutenant Hobson . .160 
Four Captains Who Fought Cervera's Fleet . . 172 

Two Cuban Street Scenes 200 

In a Cuban School . 208 

Two Presidents of Cuba . . . . . .218 

Tobacco Raising and Cigar Making in Cuba . . 228 

13 



Note: — The Spanish spelling Puerto Rico (rich port) 
is used throughout this book instead of the form Porto 
Rico, now commonly used in the United States. 



14 



THE RESCUE OF CUBA 



CHAPTER I 

Historic Misgovernment by Spain 

IN the world's contest for freedom Spain has played 
a large part ; but her part, as this chapter and the 
next will show, has been unhappily upon the wrong 
side. No other people ever had greater opportunities 
to attain first rank among the nations, and no other 
people was ever overwhelmed with greater humilia- 
tions or more dismal failure. 

The Spanish people have many admirable character- 
istics. They are distinguished for their grave and care- 
ful courtesy to strangers and for their hospitality to 
visitors. They preserve a marked dignity of bearing; 
they are intensely patriotic; they are brave to the ex- 
tremity of desperation. They have been in the past 
energetic and aggressive. 

But along with these qualities are others which are 
the opposite of admirable. A proper pride is always 
to be respected, but Spanish pride is so excessive that, 
from an Anglo-Saxon point of view, it seems to turn 
easily into foolish vanity ; it certainly leads the Spanish 

15 



16 THE RESCUE OF CUBA 



Courteous Manners Corruption and Cruelty 



people frequently to deceive themselves rather than to 
admit that they have been wrong; and no people can 
make any progress unless they are willing to acknowl- 
edge their failings so that they can mend them. The 
chivalry and courtesy, which are so highly prized by 
the Spaniards, seem too often to be a thin crust of 
outward behavior, while below these pleasant manners 
may be selfishness and cruel feelings. Their dignified 
politeness is beautiful to experience, but underneath 
this sweetness of temper the world has discovered 
sad degrees of duplicity, intrigue, vindictiveness, and 
inhumanity. Moreover, the Spanish character has 
seemed to be almost hopelessly rapacious ; the poor, 
ignorant peasants of course have to work, but most 
Spaniards of the more intelligent classes consider labor 
to be beneath them, and too many of them have been 
accustomed, even to the present, to follow the custom of 
the old dark ages and depend for their riches upon what 
they could wrench from those who were weaker than 
themselves, or else purloin from their own Government. 
There are certainly many exceptions to this : there 
are good people in Spain, as everywhere; but corrup- 
tion seems to prevail among Spaniards more widely 
and persistently than in any other European nation ; it 
is the trait that has most undermined the Spanish 
character, and has been more effective than any other 
in retarding Spanish progress, while other European 
nations have grown more honest and humane with the 
progress of civilization. Corruption and cruelty have 
held backward a nation of splendid possibilities, and 



HISTORIC MISGOVERNMENT BY SPAIN 17 

Territorial Importance Loss of Territory 

have led Spain to commit acts almost as unwise and 
atrocious as those of Turkey. 

The situation of the Spanish peninsula is exceedingly 
important. Washed by the Atlantic on one side and 
the Mediterranean on another, commanding the gate 
of Gibraltar on the great highway of the nations, and 
separated from the body of Europe by a mountain range 
which is practically impassable against spirited defense, 
her territorial position has been one of strong and world- 
wide significance. 

Outside of her home peninsula she has come into the 
possession of more territory and lost more territory than 
any other modern nation. Her arms and her diplomacy 
have, at one time or another, given her claim to do- 
minion over those parts of Europe now held by Austria, 
Holland, Belgium, Alsace and Lorraine in Germany, 
Italy, and Portugal ; while her discoveries and con- 
quests gave her the greater and the richer part of 
North America, nearly all of South America, the West 
Indies, the Philippines, and other groups of rich islands 
in both hemispheres, as well as a large slice of Africa. 

But her avarice, her illiberality, her intolerance of 
new opinions, her antagonism to liberty, her duplicity 
in dealing with other nations, her repeated attempts 
to repress manhood through cruelties, have caused 
nearly all these outside lands to be taken from her by 
more progressive powers, or else to leave her through 
their own revolutions. 

Spain has not been without a civilization which was 
relatively high. She was the " Tarshish " of Scripture. 



18 THE RESCUE OF CUBA 

Wasted Opportunities Lack of Human Sympathy 

Her soil is rich in vegetable and mineral wealth. The 
time was when she had prosperous and famous cities, 
when the arts and sciences were cultivated, when 
she was at the front and gave promise of remaining 
at the front of the intellectual progress of the world. 
But her national policy of deceitfulness and cruelty 
arrested the intellectual and moral development of her 
people. 

The discovery of America by Columbus, under 
Spain's auspices, gave her the chance to become a great 
empire. Her monarchs had just conquered the Moors, 
and had consolidated the various little Spanish king- 
doms into one nation. Now the limitless quantities of 
gold which began to be sent to her in treasure-ships 
from America enabled her to enter a career of Euro- 
pean conquest and successful enlargement which lasted 
for a good part of a century, until the dominions of 
Philip H. included, not only the entire Spanish penin- 
sula, but Sicily and Sardinia, a large part of Italy, and 
a splendid kingdom around the Rhine, besides most of 
the Western Hemisphere and innumerable islands in 
the Pacific and Indian Oceans. He was said to be the 
monarch of one hundred million subjects. 

No wonder Spain dreamed of extending her empire 
till it embraced the whole world. Her soldiers were 
the most numerous and daring, her fleets were the 
largest, her treasury was the richest, her opportunity 
was the best. Her dream of universal empire might 
possibly have been realized if her rule had been tinged 
with human sympathy or had paid respect to human 



HISTORIC MISGOVERNMENT BY SPAIN 19 

Spanish Inquisition Confiscation of Property 

rights. But it was so cruel that even the ignorant and 
downtrodden peoples of those earlier days revolted. 

She had an ingenious method for keeping her people 
in humble submission to her throne and for bringing 
other nations under the same subjection ; it was the 
Spanish Inquisition, a system of torture and death for 
opinion's sake which was well calculated to strike 
terror to the strongest souls. 

This was a scheme for secretly inquiring into the 
thoughts of the individual, and murdering him if his 
thoughts were not satisfactory to the crown. Under 
the penalty of torture and death anyone might be re- 
quired to inform against his neighbor, or even against 
members of his own household. The inquisitors con- 
demned without open trial. A suspect was put upon 
the rack at midnight, in a dimly lighted dungeon, and 
his sinews stretched and his bones broken until life 
almost went out of the poor aching body, for the pur- 
pose of eliciting a confession of guilt or a charge against 
others. This torture might be continued at frequent 
intervals, sometimes for years, only to let the wretched 
victim perish by burning at the stake at last. 

The property of the condemned went to the king, 
and of course the possessors of wealth were early vic- 
tims. No man was safe. Women and children were 
by no means exempt. To refuse information or sup- 
posed information was to defy the merciless inquisitors, 
and to reveal any secret or alleged secret of the bloody 
tribunal was certain death. The deceits which were 
used to entrap the unwary can scarcely be believed. 



20 THE RESCUE OF CUBA 



Persistent Cruelties Results in the Netherlands 



Death, in its most horrid form of lingering torture, 
claimed hundreds of thousands. The executions took 
place at stated times in the public squares and were 
attended by the officials of state and by the wretched 
people in vast crowds. Death was ordinarily by fire. 
Confession before the multitude purchased the poor 
privilege of being strangled by the garrote before the 
body was thrown into the flames. 

Such a system must necessarily accompHsh one of 
two ends, and that very completely. It must either 
drive a people to revolt, or it must utterly destroy their 
sense of manhood. In different parts of the empire it 
did both. The results turned upon the character of 
the people. 

Thus, in the Spanish peninsula it stopped the wheels 
of progress. It drove out a million of Moors, Protes- 
tants, and Jews. The two former classes included the 
best mechanics and the cleverest artificers Spain ever 
had, and the Jews were her ablest bankers. To expel 
all these was to cut off the internal resources of national 
strength. The inquisitorial system also hurt those 
who remained in Spain by putting a premium on the 
arrogance of some and the subserviency of others, and 
thus robbed the people of much of their moral sense. 

But when Spain undertook to put this system in 
operation among her subjects in the Netherlands, it 
there produced a revolution, the success of which gave 
a wonderful energy to the life of the liberty-loving 
Dutch, and, through them, opened the way for the 
advance of civilization throughout the world. 



HISTORIC MISOOVERNMENT BY SPAIN 21 

Dutch Revolt Our Debt to the Dutch 

In 1568 the Spanish Inquisition condemned the 
three millions of people in the Netherlands to death 
because of their religious and political opinions, and a 
proclamation of the Spanish king at once confirmed 
the act. William the Silent led the Dutch revolt 
against the oppressor. It was the world's first great 
battle for the liberty of the individual. It continued 
for forty years. In it a hundred thousand Nether- 
landers laid down their lives for the rights of intellect 
and conscience. Words would fail to tell of the ad- 
venturous daring, of the intrigue and deceit, or of the 
atrocious cruelties of the Spanish. But the desperate 
heroism of the Dutch finally beat them back, gained 
recognition for their little Republic of seven states in 
1609, and established the fullest liberty of thought and 
freedom of worship. They celebrated their victories by 
setting up schools and universities, and entered upon a 
career of intellectual and industrial progress. They 
had stood during most of the war utterly alone against 
the most powerful nation of Europe; their energy, in- 
dustry, and virtue were so great that when their inde- 
pendence was gained they were as powerful as the 
English, and even more progressive; their ships were 
seen in every port ; there was scarcely any beggary ; and 
nearly every citizen could read and write. 

Against this spirit in the Netherlands Spain proved 
powerless. We Americans are debtors to these Dutch 
patriots and defenders of freedom who delivered their 
country from the Spaniards; for it was from the Dutch 
RepubHc, quite as much as from England, that our 



22 THE RESCUE OF CUBA 

The Armada Spanish Defeats in Europe 

forefathers got their ideas of liberty and popular 
government. 

But before Spain was driven out of the Netherlands 
the British had given her a staggering blow by defeat- 
ing her " Invincible Armada," which the arrogant 
Philip II. sent in 1588 to subjugate England. This 
was one of the most disastrous defeats in history; it 
broke the power of Spain on the sea and gave it to 
England, and opened the way for colonial settlements 
by both the Dutch and English in America. 

A little later, in 1639, Spain was again humiliated 
by the loss of Portugal and its foreign colonies. Dur- 
ing the latter part of the same century Spain was 
beaten by France and suffered a loss of eight million 
more in her population. Another war (1701-1714) 
pared away what was left of the great Spanish Empire 
on every side; Gibraltar and the island of Minorca 
were ceded to England; Milan, Naples, Sardinia, and 
Belgium were given to Austria. From the mightiest 
nation in Europe, Spain thus sank in a little over a 
hundred years to a third-rate power. But she still 
held a lordly empire over the seas in the Western 
Hemisphere. 

From that opulent American empire she had drawn 
her treasure for her extravagant and foolish wars at 
home. She had made the American natives slaves, 
and had, by harsh treatment, exterminated whole races 
of them. She might have learned some valuable les- 
sons from her own terrible reverses in Europe and in- 
stituted a milder and juster sway in America. But her 




Rulers and Leaders of Spain in the War with the United States. 

King Alfonso XIII. and his Mother, the Queen-Regent. 
Captain-General Weyler. Prime Minister Sagasta. 



HISTORIC MISGOVERNMENT BY SPAIN 23 

Mistakes in America Losses in America and East Indies 

misrule and extortion grew heavier in her colonies, and 
they steadily slipped away from her. 

Accordingly, by the time another century had passed, 
Spain began to lose her vast American empire. Stimu- 
lated by the success of the United States in its winning 
of independence, the Spanish colonies followed one 
another in rebellion. The Argentine Republic, in- 
cluding Bolivia, established its independence in 1810. 
Chili, Venezuela, Ecuador, and New Granada achieved 
theirs during the next ten years. Peru won freedom 
in 1824. Mexico and the states of Central America 
broke the Spanish yoke through bloody revolutions 
about the same time. Florida was bought from Spain 
by the United States ; and the Louisiana territory, in- 
cluding the enormous region west of the Mississippi 
and north as far as the British possessions, after having 
been ceded by Spain to France, came to us soon after- 
wards through diplomacy and purchase from France. 

Brazil had gone when Portugal was lost. Santo Do- 
mingo and Hayti, which had been gradually conquered 
by the French, won their independence. Jamaica and 
the Bahama Islands were taken by the British. 

In the West Indies, accordingly, Cuba and Puerto 
Rico were the only islands of importance left under 
the Spanish rule at the beginning of the late war. 

The great and rich islands of the East India group 
in the Pacific were properly claimed by Spain through 
the discoveries by Magellan ; but all save the Philip- 
pines, the Carolines, the Ladrones, and a few other 
very small islands were taken from her by the English, 



24 THE RESCUE OF CUBA 

Bad Methods and Cruelties Massacre of French Colonists 

French, and Dutch in the wars she had waged against 
those countries in the vain hope of broadening her 
empire. 

It would have been no dishonor to lose all of these 
vast possessions, had not most of the losses been occa- 
sioned by dishonest dealings, signal violations of human 
rights, and merciless cruelty. An habitual disregard 
of the customs of civilized administration and of the 
laws of civilized warfare has persistently formed the 
substance of Spanish policy. It was so in the home 
country and it has invariably been so in the territories. 

The details of the persecution of the men and women 
who thought for themselves, the narrative of the ex- 
pulsion of the Jews and the Moors from Spain, and the 
tale of the atrocities of the war in the Netherlands, 
are too long and too horrible to be described. We 
should willingly pass them by without mention if simi- 
lar practices had not been brought to the New World 
and continued into the present century. 

During the religious wars of France in the latter half 
of the i6th century, several hundred Huguenots, aided 
by Admiral Coligny, started a colony in Florida. It 
was the first attempt in America to establish a free 
government, where men could enjoy liberty of opinion. 
The famous English Admiral Hawkins visited this 
colony in 1565, became deeply interested in it, and 
has left a description of its broad and humane policy, 
which was extraordinary for that day. Shortly after 
Hawkins left, the terrible Menendez, with his Spanish 
soldiers, arrived, and butchered the whole company of 



HISTORIC MISGOVERNMENT BY SPAIN 25 

Massacres in Mexico At Soto la Marina 

men, women, and children, seven hundred in all, ex- 
cept six who escaped to an English ship. 

Spanish official documents show that when Vene- 
zuela, Ecuador, and New Granada battled for freedom, 
eighty thousand of their people, taken prisoners of 
war, were hanged, shot, or otherwise murdered in 
cold blood by Spanish soldiers. Frequently these 
massacres were in spite of express agreements before 
capitulation that their lives and property should be 
secure. These crimes were not due merely to the 
excesses of half-savage troops, but had the specific 
approval of the Government of Spain. 

Special hostility was shown against people who could 
read and write, and particularly against all who were 
accomplished as scholars, on the ground that they 

were more dangerous than insurgents in arms." 

In the city of Guanaxuato, in Mexico, men and 
women who pass a certain point in the public square 
still stop and cross themselves. It is where a Spanish 
general slaughtered thousands of defenseless men and 
women because they were asking for freedom ; and he 
was rewarded for doing it by promotion to the highest 
office in the territory. 

In the Mexican Revolution, in June, 1816, the little 
fort of Soto la Marina, after being bravely defended, 
was obliged to surrender to Spanish arms. Written 
articles of capitulation were agreed upon, and they were 
so similar to the terms granted by General Shafter to 
the Spanish garrison at Santiago that they are worth 
quoting: " I. All parties composing the garrison of 



26 THE RESCUE OF CUBA 

At Los Remedios Four Centuries of Inhumanity 

the fort of Soto la Marina, as well as those that are or 
may have been at the bar or on the river, shall be 
included in the present capitulation. They shall sur- 
render themselves prisoners of war, everyone receiv- 
ing a treatment corresponding with his rank; and the 
ofificers shall be paroled. II. All private property 
shall be respected. III. The foreigners shall be sent 
to the United States, by the first opportunity. The 
natives of the country shall be sent to their respective 
homes, and their past conduct shall remain wholly un- 
noticed. IV. The garrison shall march out with the 
honors of war, and stack their arms." Notwithstand- 
ing this solemn agreement, most of the garrison were 
murdered, and such as were not shot were sent to end 
their lives in dungeons, a few in Mexico and the rest 
in Spain. The property of all was confiscated. 

In the same revolution, in January, 1818, the Mexi- 
cans surrendered the fort of Los Remedios. Here, 
too, the garrison was slaughtered, and the captors were 
not content with shooting such as were well, but they 
fired the hospital, which was filled with sick and 
wounded, and as the poor unfortunates crawled out 
they were thrust back into the flames or put to death 
with bayonets. 

There seems to be no end to the story of these brutali- 
ties. They have occurred for more than four hundred 
years at times when the Spanish soldiers have won the 
victory in battle. Four centuries ago all nations were 
shockingly cruel as compared with the present stand- 
ards, but the Spaniards at that time exceeded all other 



HISTORIC MISGOVERNMENT BY SPAIN 



War on the Helpless Effect on Spain 

peoples in mercilessness; and while other nations have 
grown humane and gentle with the advance of better 
civilization, the Spaniards have lagged behind, and 
have continued to hold sentiments so savage as often to 
impel them to war against helpless prisoners, women, 
and children with the same ferocity with which they 
fight against soldiers in arms. Consequently terrible 
assassinations and massacres have usually followed 
Spanish conquest. They have not been repressed, but 
rather encouraged and approved, by the Spanish Gov- 
ernment. 

It is not pleasant to tell this story, but it is a part of 
the world's history, it bears upon the course of the 
United States concerning the Spaniards, and it has at 
last settled the fate of Spain. 



28 THE RESCUE OF CUBA 

Beautiful Cuba Size and Population 

CHAPTER II 

Spanish Misrule in Cuba 

THE island of Cuba was the chief discovery made 
by Columbus upon his first voyage. Passing by 
several smaller islands, he came to this one and supposed 
he had reached the main coast of China, the far-famed 

Indie " of that day. He wrote in his diary, " This 
is the most beautiful land ever beheld by human eyes. 
The Spaniards have called it, at different times, Juana, 
Fernandino, Santiago, and Ave Maria, but " Cuba," 
the name by which the original inhabitants called it, 
has survived all others. 

The length of Cuba is about 700 miles; it has an 
irregular width which varies from 21 to 11 1 miles; 
with several small islands along the coast, it contains 
about 47,000 square miles. What this means is sug- 
gested by a comparison. Cuba is nearly one fourth 
larger than Ireland, and nearly one seventh smaller 
than England. It is a trifle larger than Virginia or 
Ohio, and a trifle smaller than Pennsylvania. It has 
2200 miles of coast-line. Its population in recent 
years has been about 2,000,000. The greatest number 
of these are white Cubans. The remainder includes 
Americans, Spaniards, and negroes. 

Perhaps no other place on earth has a more genial 



SPANISH MISRVLE IN CUBA 29 

Cuba's Climate and Resources Cuba's Early History 

climate, vegetation more thriving and beautiful, or fruit 
more delicious and abundant. The temperature ranges 
from 50° to 88°. Thirteen million acres of uncleared 
and virgin forest contain the finest cedar and mahogany 
in the world. Two million acres of the island's thirty- 
four millions are under cultivation, and nine millions 
are natural pasture-land. The most important products 
of the soil are sugar, tobacco, Indian corn, coffee, 
cocoa, bananas, pineapples, and cocoanuts, besides the 
rich woods of the forest and the copper and iron from 
the mines. 

Even in the war year of 1896 the total exports 
amounted to over $94,000,000. Until laid waste by 
war Cuba was thus a treasure-house for Spain, and it 
is no wonder that she was unwilling to give up so rich 
a spot of earth. 

From the beginning the history of the island has 
been that of bloodshed and oppression. The poor 
natives at first believed that their discoverers had de- 
scended from heaven, but they were soon disabused of 
this idea. Though discovered by Columbus in 1492, 
the conquest of the island was not undertaken seriously 
by the Spaniards until 151 1. The island was divided 
among the conquerors and the Indians were made 
slaves to till the land. But so ruthless were their 
taskmasters that in a few centuries almost the whole 
native population of the island had disappeared. Then 
negroes were imported from Africa to take their places. 

For the next three centuries Cuba was left by her 
oppressors to isolation and neglect. Her people lived 



30 THE RESCUE OF CUBA 

Spain's Shortsightedness Hostility to Education 

in poverty and squalor. With extraordinary short- 
sightedness the Government of Spain took no steps 
towards the development of the country or the well- 
being of the people. 

Her centralized and inefficient administration, influ- 
enced by an unprogressive spirit of routine, has always 
looked upon proposed reforms as dangerous experi- 
ments. Whenever a new industry was started through 
private enterprise, the Government demanded a new 
tax, which was made heavier as the industry developed. 
The first important industry was tobacco: Spain im- 
mediately so taxed and monopolized its culture, sale, 
and manufacture that the planters in desperation several 
times rose in arms and destroyed their fields, rather 
than to submit to exactions which more than deprived 
them of their profits. 

The English captured Havana in 1762. During the 
British occupation the port was thrown open to foreign 
trade for the first time, and the inhabitants had the 
experience of its advantages. A desire for education 
began to be felt, and, there being no institutions in the 
country which could satisfy it, a few young men were 
sent to the United States for schooling. But Spain 
did not approve of education. A royal decree was 
issued in Madrid in 1799 that Cuban parents should be 
dissuaded from continuing a practice from which they 
were told only evil consequences could be expected! 
All Cuban youths in school in the United States were 
ordered back to Cuba, while those who had received an 
education were placed under the watch of the police. 



SPANISH MISRULE IN CUBA 31 

Cuban Revolts England Learned by Experience 

Revolts against these injustices at last began; the 
first was in 1823, and was followed by others in 1826, 
1828, 1830, 1848, 1850, 1851, and 1855; then came the 
great " ten years' war" of 1868-78, after which there 
was an apparent peace until the last revolution, which 
began in 1895. 

In the earlier times all the European nations were 
accustomed to look upon their colonial dependencies 
as sources of support for the home Government, and 
often as the legitimate objects of plunder for the home 
people. England learned a most useful lesson as to 
this kind of dealing when one of her political adminis- 
trations, under a king who was either crazy or simple, 
pursued a course which forced the Americans into their 
Revolution, and thus she lost her best possessions 
across the Atlantic. It was a course which ever since 
has been deeply regretted by the British statesmen 
and the body of the English people. Great Britain 
has learned to administer her colonies for their benefit 
rather than her own, and has found that by so doing 
she added to the greatness of her empire. 

Spain, on the other hand, has sufTered a more bitter 
experience in the loss of colonies than any other 
nation, but she has seemed incapable of profiting by 
experience. One by one, her vast American posses- 
sions, from Mexico to Patagonia, revolted against her; 
but as these dependencies slipped away her dealings 
with those that remained grew but little less severe 
and reckless. Her colonial policy continued to be 
wholly for the home country, with but scanty regard 



32 THE RESCUE OF CUBA 

Spain Learns not from Experience The Cuban Debt 

for the rights and interests of the colonists. She per- 
mitted them no government of their own, nor even 
effective representation in the Madrid Government, 
although she promised it more than once. She held 
them down by military force. She sent to them gov- 
ernors whose dishonest rule was unbearable. She taxed 
them beyond endurance, while her of^cials grew rich 
through unarrested corruption. Puerto Rico and the 
Philippines suffered similarly with Cuba; yet it seemed 
as if poor Cuba, because of her frequent revolts against 
the tyranny, as well as because of her superior wealth, 
was singled out for a special rigor. 

The " ten years' war " cost nearly a billion of dol- 
lars, — and Cuba was required to pay it. That war 
was concluded by the promises of the Spanish Govern- 
ment, on its word of honor, to accord various important 
reforms; most of these Spain never granted. Before 
the outbreak of the last revolution, in 1895, the debt 
which Spain had put upon the unhappy island was 
$295,707,264. This debt meant $185 to each inhabit- 
ant. The United States debt before 1898 meant only 
$24 to each person. Even the gigantic debt of France, 
which she incurred herself, means only $154 to each 
person. Before her last revolution began, Cuba's debt 
signified more to each inhabitant than any other debt 
in the world. Yet this debt was not only imposed by 
Spain without a word of consent from Cuba ; the money 
had all been spent for Spain. It was declared by the 
revolutionary Cubans that this enormous sum " had 
not contributed to build a single kilometer of highway, 



SPANISH MISRULE IN CUBA 83 

Debts without Benefits Official Corruption 

nor had it built one asylum or opened one public 
school." What had not been embezzled, had gone 
chiefly to pay Spain's expense in keeping Cuba under 
her inflexible rule. 

The interest on this prodigious debt was $12,000,- 
000, which Spain required Cuba to pay. She also im- 
posed upon the island an annual payment of $7,000,000 
to support the army and navy kept there for Cuba's 
own repression ; and $8,000,000 more for the salaries 
and expenses of the civil, judicial, and other ofificers 
of Spain ; and to all this we must add a sum of from 
$12,000,000 to $20,000,000, which the best informed 
men say was lost to the Cuban revenue through the 
purloining of officials, and had to be made good by the 
suffering people. 

In the general yearly expenditure of about $34,000,- 
000, the accounts showed that only $500,000 were 
devoted to works of public utility, and $182,000 to 
education. Yet the people who endured this monstrous 
wrong were less in number than in many American 
States. They were mostly poor, and of course they 
were illiterate, for the trifle which was spent upon 
education did not apply to any except the privileged 
classes. They were without voice or vote concerning 
he taxes that were exacted, and saw no return for 
them in the way of public improvements. How would 
the people of an American State regard official misrule 
and exaction to this extent ? 

As to personal rights, there was even less of consti- 
tutional freedom in the island than in Spain herself. 



34 THE RESCUE OF CUBA 

No Freedom in Cuba The Rebellion of 1895 

The Governor-General ruled with unlimited powers; 
he had the general authority of an autocratic sovereign. 
At his caprice, and without trial, he could imprison 
persons, deport them to penal colonies, or order them 
to be shot ; he could then confiscate their estates and 
reduce their families to want. It has been said that 
there is hardly a Cuban family in which one of the 
members has not suffered persecution during the last 
seventy years. If one ventured from home without a 
Government license, costing from twenty-five cents to 
fifty dollars, according to his means, he could be ar- 
rested. There was no real liberty of thought or action. 
Public meetings could not be held without the permis- 
sion of the Spanish authorities, and when they were 
allowed an officer was present to stop them if anything 
was said which he did not like. It was the policy of the 
Government to break the spirit of the whole Cuban 
people, and so to strip them of their means that they 
could not successfully revolt. 

But under these conditions they could do nothing 
less than revolt. The last Cuban rebellion broke out 
in 1895. It bore evidence of being more intelligently 
and effectually organized than any which had preceded 
it. Strong and experienced men planned and led it. 
Gomez, the two Maceos, Garcia, and others were noted 
patriots as well as men of high ability. 

The system of raising money for the Army of Lib- 
eration extended to all who naturally would sympathize 
with it. Every patriotic Cuban, rich and poor, gave 
as he was able, and those who could give nothing else 




O "S 



3^- 



rt ^ 



SPANISH MISRULE IN CUBA 35 

The Patriot Army Weyler's Barbarity 

gave themselves to the patriot army, which fought with- 
out pay and often without food. When the army was 
without arms and ammunition, as often happened, it 
eluded the Spanish columns, and the men scattered, to 
return later to an appointed rendezvous. Whenever 
able, it made sudden attacks on Spanish garrisons or 
upon the marching Spanish columns. The Cuban 
army could not fight great battles, because there never 
were enough arms to equip a large force at one time ; 
but the harassing attacks of the small bodies of patriots 
were so audacious and frequent that the Spanish offi- 
cers despaired of reducing the rebellion by any other 
means than starvation. 

Consequently, in her extremity Spain resorted to 
barbarous measures for the suppression of the rebellion. 
It was believed in Madrid that Governor-General Cam- 
pos was too mild for the emergency; so General Wey- 
ler was sent to take his place. Weyler already had a 
record for unexceeded mercilessness, and was popularly 
known as " the butcher." He straightway instituted 
new methods, which were based upon the deliberate 
purpose of making Cuba such a desert that the Cuban 
army could not obtain the least subsistence. 

In pursuance of this plan he ordered his soldiers to 
burn the buildings and the ripening crops on all the 
estates. All the farming population throughout the 
island were driven from their homes by his guerrillas, 
and were gathered in the heavily garrisoned cities, 
where they were huddled within great pens called 
" trochas. " These expulsions, and the long marches 



36 THE RESCUE OF CUBA 



War upon the Homes Spanish " Peace " 

of the weary and fainting people from their homes to 
the distant garrisons, were so pitiful as to stir the 
hearts of all except the most incorrigible. 

It became a war not only upon men, but also upon 
women and children. Its horrors seemed to bring 
back the days of Cortez in Mexico and Pizarro in 
Peru, The Spanish soldiers, exasperated by the lack 
of success in the field against the armed patriots, at- 
tacked hospitals and murdered the wounded and sick, 
just as in July, 1898, their sharpshooters around Santi- 
ago shot the wounded American soldiers. 

When residents of Cuba, loyal to Spain, protested 
against these outrages they were considered to be 
traitors and were also shot. 

These things are not from the history of the Duke 
of Alva in the Netherlands; they occurred in 1896 and 
1897, almost within sight of the United States. 

While the Spanish soldiers were perpetrating these 
deeds, General Weyler was declaring to his Government 
that Cuba was almost pacified; he was making it a 
desert and calling it peace. 

Of course the Spanish denied many of the reports 
of personal outrages which were sent from Cuba by 
American and English observers. But there was no 
attempt to deny the sufferings of hundreds of thou- 
sands of the poor " reconcentrados," as the people 
driven from their homes to the cities by the soldiers 
were called ; their beggary, and their starving to death 
in the streets of the cities, where they had been driven 
as into prison-pens, were too evident. 



SPANISH MISRULE IN CUBA 87 

Senator Proctor's Observations of the " Reconcentrados " 

Senator Proctor of Vermont, who went to Cuba early 
in 1898, to satisfy himself of what was being done, ad- 
dressed the Senate of the United States upon the sub- 
ject. The character of the man and the deliberation 
with which he spoke carried conviction to the country. 
A few sentences from this address must sufifice, but 
they are full of meaning. 

He said: " I saw no house or hut for four hundred 
miles of railroad. . . . They had lived in cabins 
made of palms, or in wooden houses. Some of them 
had houses of stone, the blackened walls of which are 
all that remain to show that the country was ever in- 
habited. . . . In the trochas they were allowed to 
build huts of palm-leaves. They have no floor but the 
ground, no furniture, and but little clothing. 

" The commonest sanitary provisions are impossible. 
Conditions are unmentionable in this respect. With 
foul earth, foul air, foul water, and foul food or none, 
it is not strange that one half have died and that one 
quarter of the living are now so diseased that they 
cannot be saved. 

Little children are walking about with arms and 
chests terribly emaciated, eyes swollen, and abdomen 
bloated to three times the natural size. The physicians 
say their cases are hopeless. . . . Deaths in the 
street have not been uncommon. . . . They have 
been found dead about the markets in the morning, 
where they have crawled in the hope of getting some 
iStray bits of food. 

" These people were independent and self-support- 



38 THE RESCUE OF CUBA 

Famine and Death Cubans at Disadvantage 

ing before. . . . They have not learned the art of 
begging. Rarely is a hand held out to you for alms 
when going among their huts, but the sight of them 
makes an appeal stronger than words. 

" I saw a hospital in Havana where four hundred 
women and children were lying on stone floors in an 
indescribable state of emaciation and disease, many 
with the scantiest covering of rags, — and such rags ! 

" And the conditions in other cities were even 
worse. . . . Two /i7i?idred //t02(sancl ha.vQ died within 
these Spanish prison walls within a few months." 

It is unnecessary to extend the details of the distress- 
ing narrative : it is the story of men but half clothed 
and half fed, ignorant and simple, fighting in the 
bushes for freedom ; their wives and children dead or 
dying of starvation and abuse; their fields untilled and 
their homes in ruins; the whole of their beautiful 
island laid desolate; the future as dark as an eternal 
night ; yet refusing all overtures, and pressing on 
without hesitation either to victory or else to utter 
extermination. 

Much has been said against the Cubans to show that 
they are incapable of self-government. Many of these 
charges are true. They are poor; they are ignorant, 
under Spanish rule not more than one tenth received 
any education at all ; they were not accustomed to 
manage their own affairs ; they had no chance ; tliey 
were without schools ; no high ideals had been held 
up to them ; they were robbed of their property, their 
freedom, and their self-respect by a blind Govern- 



SPANISH MISRULE IN CUBA 39 



Cuban Intrepidity Voice of the United States 

ment and a brutal soldiery. But there is abundant 
proof of their devotion, their ability, and their bravery 
in the fact that for three years they fought more than 
200,000 Spanish troops so successfully as to prove to 
the world that they could not be subjugated. This 
was while their homes were laid in ashes and their 
wives and children were starving. 

Such was the situation in Cuba when the Republic 
of the United States lifted up its voice among the 
nations and declared that the oppressed island at its 
doors should g-o free. 



40 THE RESCUE OF CUBA 

America's Foreign Policy Non-interference 

CHAPTER III 

Rescue by the United States 

Two declarations by two presidents of the United 
States, in regard to the foreign policy which our 
Government ought to follow, have been so generally ac- 
cepted by the people as to gain about as much force as 
a provision in the Constitution. One of these is against 
our meddling in the affairs of foreign nations, and the 
other is against allowing them to meddle in our affairs. 

In the most irnportant suggestion of his " Farewell 
Address " — and the only one which is commonly re- 
membered — President Washington impressively recom- 
mended that we entirely abstain from interfering in 
European affairs. This advice has been uniformly 
followed. Even under severe temptation we have 
never gone further into any foreign issue than to pro- 
tect our own independence and to insure the develop- 
ment of free institutions upon this Western Continent. 

While, on several occasions in the past, our navy 
has been sent into foreign waters to enforce certain 
demands of the United States, those demands have 
always been made necessary by some menace to our 
interests or by some defiance of the legitimate author- 
ity of the United States. Until Commodore Dewey 
sailed from Hong Kong for Manila, no vessel of the 



RESCUE BY THE UNITED STATES 41 

Washington's Advice Monroe Doctrine 

United States ever went over seas upon a warlike 
errand which was not inseparably associated with 
American rights. The doctrine that we should mind 
our own business, and that our business was all within 
the bounds of the Western Continent, has been thor- 
oughly fixed in the thought of the people, and as 
firmly established in the diplomatic policy of the Gov- 
ernment, The last words of Washington to this effect 
have always been regarded as very wise and entirely 
sacred. 

President Monroe, in 1823, connected his name with 
the converse of this doctrine, that we should not per- 
mit European nations to interfere in our affairs, or to 
extend monarchical rule, or to offer any menace to 
democratic government upon this hemisphere. 

It may be interesting to recall how this " Monroe 
Doctrine" came to be announced. It must be re- 
membered that it was the efforts of Spain to reclaim 
her South American colonies that called it forth. 
Following the Napoleonic wars there was formed 
among the leading European nations an alliance for 
self-protection. It was called the " Holy Alliance," 
though it was anything but holy. It was not so 
much for resistance against other powers as to protect 
its members against internal rebellions. It consisted 
of a joining of forces by the kings to prevent the prog- 
ress of the people towards the management of their 
own affairs. England at first approved, but soon re- 
pudiated the whole arrangement. 

It was the attempts of Spain to bring the guns of 



42 THE RESCUE OF CUBA 

Monroe's Warning to Europe Change of Policy 

these allied powers to bear upon her revolted colonies 
in South America that led President Monroe to de- 
clare that while the United States would not interfere 
with any existing dependencies of any European state, 
yet the United States would consider it an unfriendly 
act, and treat it as such, for any European power to 
interfere with any American Government which had de- 
clared and maintained its independence and had been 
so recognized by the United States. In words full of 
meaning and bristling with spirit he said : " It is due to 
candor that we should declare to the Allied Powers 
that we should consider any attempt on their part to 
extend their system to any portion of this hemisphere 
as dangerous to our peace and safety." 

So it had become a traditional and fundamental 
doctrine in this country that we should avoid all foreign 
entanglements ; that we should not meddle with the 
affairs of foreign nations, even with the affairs of their 
American colonies; and that, on the other hand, we 
shpuld not allow them to extend their monarchical 
^systems on this side of the Atlantic. 
1 The decision of our Government to intervene in be- 
half of Cuba was, accordingly, a complete departure 
from traditional understandings. Some of the fore- 
most constitutional lawyers were opposed to it. The 
step was disapproved by a large proportion of the pro- 
fessional and business people of the country: it was 
forced by the masses. It was the impulses of human 
sympathy and righteous indignation setting aside the 
long-standing principles of national policy. , 



RESCUE BY THE UNITED STATES 43 

Case of the Virginius Gradual Growth of Anti-Spanish Feeling 

Various things had contributed to arouse American 
sentiment against Spain. Her whole history was not 
only opposed to our manner of living and our common 
thought, but she had done some things which bore 
directly against American citizens and gave a serious 
wound to American feelings. 

In 1873, the steamer Virginius, flying the American 
flag and suspected of carrying supplies to the Cubans, 
then engaged in revolt against Spain, was captured by 
a Spanish cruiser and taken into the harbor of Santiago. 
Her officers and crew, to the number of fifty-three, were 
taken hurriedly into the public square and shot. The 
diplomatists smoothed matters out so as to avoid war, 
but twenty-five years were by no means long enough 
to cause the outrage to be forgotten. 

Furthermore, the recent revolutionary condition of 
the island had affected some American commercial in- 
terests ; this, however, did not have wide influence upon 
the people, and Spain was careful to refrain from further 
outrages upon citizens of the United States, in order 
to afford no ground, recognized by the law of nations, 
which would be sufiflcient to justify our interference. 

More wide-reaching was the work of the Cuban 

Junta," an organization which the Cubans main- 
tained in the United States for the purpose of dis- 
tributing information concerning the revolution and 
arousing sympathy with their cause. 

More effective still was the diligent labor of many 
American newspapers in constantly presenting the 
hard facts of Spanish savagery to their readers. 



44 THE RESCUE OF CUBA 

Sinking of the Maine The Friendly Visit 

Through these means the people were increasingly 
agitated ; yet a good many often questioned whether 
the " Junta " was not composed of professional agi- 
tators working for selfish ends, and whether the news- 
papers were not printing exaggerated stories to promote 
newspaper circulation. 

But on the evening of the 15th of February, 1898, 
an incident occurred in the harbor of Havana which 
suddenly wrought our people to madness, which neces- 
sarily turned on the search-lights of ofificial investiga- 
tion, and led directly to a new and momentous step in 
the international relations of the world. It was the 
explosion which destroyed the battleship Maine. 

Our consuls in Cuba had presented to the Govern- 
ment the advisability of sending an American battle- 
ship to Havana, in a friendly spirit, on the ground that 
the presence of our flag would restrain the combatants 
so far as American interests were concerned, and might 
aid in relaxing the strained relations which were con- 
tinually increasing between our Government and that 
of Spain. Accordingly, after consultation with the 
Spanish Minister at Washington, and notice to the 
Government at Madrid, on the 24th of January, 1898, 
the Maine was ordered to pay a friendly and ofificial 
visit to the harbor of Havana. She arrived on the 
25th, was received with the usual naval courtesies and 
conducted to a place in the harbor by the Spanish 
pilot. She lay there without special incident for three 
weeks. At eight o'clock on the evening of the 15th 
of February all was reported secure to Captain Sigsbee, 




President McKinley and Famous Otficial;,. 
Secretary of the Navy, John D . Long. Secretary of War, Russell A . Alger 

Minister to Spain, Stewart L. Woodford. Consul-General in Cuba,Fitzhugh Lee. 



RESCUE BY THE UNITED STATES 45 

Suspended Judgment Patriotic Excitement 

her commander. At forty minutes after nine the vessel 
was hfted from the water by two terrific explosions and 
quickly sank, carrying to watery graves two of her 
officers and two hundred and sixty-four members of 
her crew. 

The cause of the disaster was a mystery, but Ameri- 
can sentiment was not slow in attributing it to Spanish 
treachery. The Captain-General and other officials at 
Havana disavowed all knowledge and tendered their 
sympathy, and the Government at Madrid hastened to 
express its regrets, but the people of the United States 
recalled the interminable line of Spanish intrigue, and 
were impatient of the various specious theories which 
excused the Spaniards from responsibility. If the ex- 
plosion was not caused directly by Spanish authority, 
our people were convinced it had been caused at least 
by Spanish officers who had access to the mines and 
torpedoes, and who were protected and hidden by their 
military superiors. 

Nevertheless, self-restraint prevailed. Captain Sigs- 
bee, in announcing the explosion, had said, " Suspend 
judgment " ; and the temper of the people and of Con- 
gress was in accord with this very sensible advice during 
the long weeks while our Naval Board of Inquiry, 
which had been appointed immediately after the dis- 
aster, were investigating, with the greatest care, the 
cause of the explosion. 

But though judgment was suspended the country 
was seething with excitement. The flag suddenly be- 
gan to float from nearly every building. The schools 



4S THE RESCUE OF CUBA 

Lights Turned on Learning the Truth 

and churches seemed to throb with patriotism. Night 
after night the wildest cheering greeted the playing of 
the patriotic airs in the theaters and cafes. Audiences 
everywhere arose to their feet while " The Star- 
Spangled Banner" was played. There had been 
nothing like this universal stirring of the spirit of 
the country since 1861. 

Meanwhile the lights were being turned, full force, on 
all the doings of Spain in Cuba, and the conviction grew 
that the former newspaper reports of Spanish inhuman- 
ity, which many people had considered exaggerated, 
had not depicted things as bad as they really were. 

For one thing, it was discovered that there were, 
locked up in the files of the State Department, facts 
of the most startling nature regarding the Cuban con- 
flict which had been reported by our consuls to the pre- 
ceding Administration, and which, in the interests of 
peace, it had been deemed advisable to withhold from 
the public. These earlier reports, and the later ones 
received from Consul-General Fitzhugh Lee, showed 
the condition of the poor Cubans who had been driven 
from their farms and concentrated in the fortified cities 
without means of subsistence, to have grown steadily 
more horrible. Here is a sample report concerning 
the " reconcentrados " in Santa Clara: 

" It was there shown that while there were 5,489 
deaths in that town in the seven years previous to 
1897, which included 1,417 in one year from an epi- 
demic of yellow fever, there were, owing to the con- 
centration order, 6,981 deaths out of a total population 



RESCUE BY THE UNITED STATES 47 



Senators Proctor and Thurston The Demand for War 



of 14,000 in the year 1897 alone. The death-rate 
increased monthly from 78 in January, the month 
before the concentration order went into effect, until 
December, when there were 1,011 deaths." 

Several congressmen visited Cuba to see for them- 
selves. The speeches in Congress of Senators Proctor, 
of Vermont, and Thurston, of Nebraska, during this 
period of suspense, were perhaps almost as influential 
as the destruction of the Maine in deepening the public 
demand that Spain be driven from this hemisphere. 
Senator Proctor's speech, already referred to, was very 
judicial, but the horrors that he described in his ex- 
tremely guarded way seemed the more terrible for his 
self-restraint. Senator Thurston's wife had accom- 
panied him to Cuba, and the shock caused by the un- 
speakable sufferings of the " reconcentrados " had 
killed her. When the Senator, upon his return to the 
Senate, arose to speak of Spanish inhumanity, he 
poured forth a flood of anguished invective which 
moved the heart of the public not less than Senator 
Proctor's measured statements. 

When the appaUing facts thus became known to a 
certainty— the hard fighting, the intense suffering, the 
abuse of prisoners; particularly, when it was known 
that hundreds of thousands of women and children 
from the rural districts had already starved through 
the ruthless course of the Spanish Captain-General, — 
and all because of a desire for liberty, — the public sym- 
pathy and indignation in the United States, so long 
restrained, were ready to break all bonds. 



48 THE RESCUE OF CUBA 



The President for Peace Preparing for War 

But while Congress and perhaps most of the people 
were calling for war, the President and his advisers 
were engaged in the twofold effort of diligently pre- 
paring for war and earnestly working for peace. 

President McKinley, who had himself been through 
the horrors of one war, did everything in his power to 
avert the coming conflict. In his inaugural message he 
had said: " We have cherished the policy of non-inter- 
ference with the affairs of foreign Governments wisely 
inaugurated by Washington, keeping ourselves from 
entanglements either as allies or foes. We want no 
wars of conquest. We must avoid the temptation of 
territorial aggression. War should never be entered 
upon until every agency of peace has failed." 

The resources of diplomacy were pressed by the 
President until they were exhausted, in endeavors to 
induce Spain to cease hostilities and withdraw from 
Cuba. 

Members of Congress who were most eager for war 
were urged by the President to aid him in holding 
back the rush into armed conflict. It was believed by 
many of the wisest of our statesmen that through 
diplomacy Spain might be induced to acknowledge 
herself defeated in Cuba, and to leave the island to 
itself. As the Great Powers of Europe saw the con- 
flict approaching, their diplomatists at Washington and 
Madrid were instructed to use their best offices to avert 
the final clash. 

With no less diligence, however, was the President 
preparing the national forces for the struggle if it must 



RESCUE BY THE UNITED STATES 49 

$50,000,000 for Defense Official Report on the Maine 

come. Our defenses were in a deplorable state of 
neglect ; coast fortifications were notoriously unpre- 
pared to resist an attack. Our navy, though well 
equipped, and in a high state of discipline, was never- 
theless, in fighting ships, considered to be somewhat 
weaker than that of Spain. 

The President, therefore, on the 8th of March, re- 
quested from Congress an appropriation of fifty 
million dollars for the national defense. This was 
immediately voted without a dissenting voice. It was 
hoped that this spectacle of unanimous support given 
to the President in the demands he was making upon 
Spain, and the suggestion it contained of the unlimited 
wealth of the nation, might convince Spain of the 
hopelessness of war with the United States. The 
President at once made use of this most needed money 
to strengthen our coast fortifications, to buy military 
equipments of all kinds, and to enlarge the navy as 
rapidly as possible by the purchase of more ships. 

The whole world was searched by our agents to find 
warships belonging to other nations which might be 
for sale. The Spanish were doing the same thing; yet 
we were able to buy a few warships. By leasing and 
by purchase an immense auxiliary fleet of cruisers, 
transports, yachts, and tugs was pressed into the ser- 
vice of the Government, and a patrol of picket vessels 
was established the entire length of our Atlantic coast. 

Meantime, the Naval Board of Inquiry sent its re- 
port from Havana. It was received by the President 
on the 25th of March, and was given to Congress on 



50 THE RESCUE OF CUBA 

President's Message to Congress Declaration of War 

the 28th of March. It found that the Maine had been 
sunk by an explosion frofu the outside. Though it 
would not attribute this explosion to the hostile act of 
the Government of Spain, the fact was palpable that a 
Spanish torpedo had wrought the disaster, and that the 
Spaniards had made no efforts to discover the culprits. 

Even yet, however, the President did not despair of 
peace, and was unwilling as yet to make the destruction 
of the Maine a cause of war. More efforts were made 
to induce the Spanish Government to withdraw from 
Cuba. But finally President McKinley sent a message 
to Congress on the nth of April, in which he recited 
the inhuman practices of the Spanish authorities in 
Cuba, and mentioned the destruction of the Maine as 
an instance of Spanish inability to restrain misrule; in 
view of all the facts the President stated to Congress 
his belief that forcible interference between Cuba and 
Spain was now justified. Congress immediately re- 
sponded, and on the 19th of April — the anniversary of 
the battles of Lexington and Concord — passed a decla- 
ration of war which, when finally concurred in, was in 
the following words: 

" First. That the people of the island of Cuba are, 
and of right ought to be, free and independent. 

" Second. That it is the duty of the United States 
to demand, and the Government of the United States 
does hereby demand, that the Government of Spain at 
once relinquish its authority and government in the 
island of Cuba and withdraw its land and naval forces 
from Cuba and Cuban waters. 




A Group of American Major-Geiierals. 



William R. Shafter. 
John R. Brooke. 



Nelson A. Miles. 



Wesley Merritt. 
Joseph Wheeler. 



RESCUE BY THE UNITED STATES 51 

Declaration of War A War for Humanity 

" Third. That the President of the United States 
be, and he is hereby, directed and empowered to use 
the entire land and naval forces of the United States, 
and to call into the actual service of the United States 
the militia of the several States, to such extent as may 
be necessary to carry these resolutions into effect. 

" Fourth, The United States hereby disclaims any 
disposition or intention to exercise sovereignty, juris- 
diction, or control over said island except for the paci- 
fication thereof, and asserts its determination when that 
is accomplished to leave the government and control 
of the island to its people." 

This declaration of war, in its purpose, its form, and 
its spirit, touches the high-water mark of government 
by the people for the good of mankind. 

It is true that in other times strong nations have 
aided the weak in their battles for freedom. Queen 
Elizabeth of England aided the heroic Dutch to throw 
off the yoke of the cruel King of Spain ; yet her battle 
against the Spaniards was more for the strengthening 
of her own throne and for the defense of English 
liberty against the danger of Spanish aggression than 
it was to help the Dutch. 

King Louis XVI. of France sent his soldiers and 
his ships across the sea to aid Washington in our own 
American struggle for independence; but it was the 
desire to humble England for former defeat which 
moved the King of France more than his love of 
human liberty. The French Revolutionary Republic, 
a few years later, marched into Italy and liberated the 



52 THE RESCUE OF CUBA 

The Generous Pledge Lofty National Ideal 

oppressed nationalities there; but each battle fought 
by France in Italy was a blow for the defense of the 
young French Republic itself against the foreign des- 
potisms which threatened it. 

Surely never before has a people, aroused by the 
contemplation of appalling tyranny in a neighboring 
country and with an entire disinterestedness of spirit, 
declared war against the foreign oppressors and bound 
itself beforehand to give to the liberated people a free 
government of their own. 

It marks a gratifying advance in the ideals of good 
government when a great self-governing nation, in one 
of the most solemn of national acts, carries, with her 
great heart and strong arm, the blessings of civil liberty, 
religious toleration, and popular education to the strug- 
gling subjects of a rapacious empire. Such an act helps 
the world to realize that states do not exist for the 
benefit of their Governments, nor even for security 
alone, but for the intellectual and moral progress of 
the people. It presents before all nations a loftier 
ideal, and it gives to the flag of our Republic a brighter 
and more glorious meaning. 



THE PREPARATION 53 



American Confidence Unprepared for War 



CHAPTER IV 

The Preparation 

THE ordinary American never has any doubts of 
the power of his country to accomplish whatever 
it undertakes. If it will attempt something new and 
difficult he has the greater relish for it. The experi- 
enced ones may see the difficulties and plead for de- 
liberation : the crowd will take counsel of their own 
enthusiasm rather than of their fears. Entire confi- 
dence that the nation vv'ill spring to any mighty effort 
with a bound is an American trait. 

The impulses of the public, generous and soul-felt, 
carried the United States into the war with Spain 
in disregard of the national traditions, without much 
thought on the part of the people as to prepared- 
ness, but with the usual American confidence as to the 
result. 

The nation was not at all prepared for war. It never 
has been prepared for war except in the midst of war. 
It has never even prepared for defense until in the im- 
mediate presence of attack. Such preparedness as it 
has had hitherto has been in its spirit, in its unbounded 
confidence that it can do anything it undertakes and do 
it quickly. It is not too much to say that it has had 
little interest in doing things as other countries do 



54 THE RESCUE OF CUBA 

Folly of Unreadiness Modern Warfare 

them. It would have been comparatively small satis- 
faction to the American heart to drive Spain out of 
Cuba after long preparation and by slow advances. It 
was a delight to the American people to do it with 
quick preparation, to do it almost upon the instant, 
and to do it so completely that none could be so stupid 
as not to understand. 

This popular spirit is of course both childish and 
unwise. It does not accord with our real seriousness 
as a nation. We do not conduct our ordinary business 
on such a haphazard principle. It is terribly unsafe 
to trust to the luck of emergency preparation in the 
event of war. 

For wars to-day are very different from those of the 
past. They are now far more of an exact science and 
are fought with weapons and tools and enginery that 
require years in making, and they call for men on sea 
and land who are trained specialists. Even in our 
great Civil War it took about a year after war began 
for both sides to get ready to fight; but neither side 
got any advantage, for both were equally unready. 
Nowadays every powerful nation of the world has 
great numbers of expert soldiers and vast quantities of 
all the materials of war ready at hand, to be used in- 
stantly. If we had been obliged to fight Great Britain 
or Russia or Germany or France, instead of Spain, our 
lack of readiness might have cost us very dear. 

There are no braver men for battle in the world than 
Americans; but mere bravery is no match for equal 
bravery with better weapons, ampler supplies, and 



THE PREPARATION 55 

Size of our Army Excellence of our Soldiers 

superior organization. It is the duty of our Congress 
and our legislatures to see that we are never again so 
poorly prepared. 

At the time of the declaration of war the regular 
army of the United States numbered 27,532 men. 
The regular army of Great Britain in time of peace 
consists of about 220,000 men, of France 2,043,000, of 
Germany 1,969,000, of Russia 1,145,000, of Spain 
352,000. 

Our little army of regular troops has much improved 
in character and efficiency in recent years. The offi- 
cers, nearly all of them graduates of the Military 
Academy at West Point, are liberally educated both 
as professional soldiers and as men of affairs. It is 
doubtful if any army in the world has more com- 
petent commanders. With remarkably rare excep- 
tions, the officers are men of character themselves, 
and are able to see that the character of the enlisted 
man has a great deal to do with his worth as a soldier. 
Much more care than formerly, therefore, is given to 
the standing of the enlisted men. They must not only 
be within the limits of age, eighteen to thirty, and 
in perfect health, but their habits of life and moral 
character must also give promise of the willing and 
efficient soldier. 

Everything which good leadership among the officers 
can suggest is being done in our regular army to make 
for the highest efficiency. The uniform has been 
adapted to afford comfort rather than to make a show. 



56 THE RESCUE OF CUBA 



High State of Training Congress and the Army 

The old-time elaborate manual of arms has given way 
in considerable measure to physical exercises which are 
calculated to develop supple, sinewy, and hardy men 
who can endure hardships and perform difficult deeds 
requiring strength and athletic skill. Much also has 
been done at the army posts to give to the private sol- 
dier a substantial education, in the confidence that the 
more intelligent a man is, the better soldier he will make. 

The regulars were consequently reasonably well 
ready for service when war was declared. They were 
well drilled and somewhat inured to camp life and 
field service. They had a fair field equipment. They 
were armed with a modern weapon called the Krag- 
Jorgensen rifle, and they were supplied, while in the 
midst of the Cuban campaign, with cartridges of 
smokeless powder. 

But the regular troops were only a handful of men, 
and the points in which they excelled were only those 
which were within the power of the professional officers 
of the army to develop and direct. Congress had for 
years refused not only to grant any enlargement of the 
army, but also to authorize such reorganization as 
military experience had shown to be necessary and as 
had been adopted in all modern European armies. 
Such matters relating to the army as depended either 
upon legislation by Congress or upon administration 
by civilian officers were either seriously lacking or de- 
plorably confused. In the Santiago campaign the 
transportation and supply departments almost entirely 
broke down under their responsibilities. 



THE PREPARATION 57 

Reasons for Small Army The Volunteers 

One reason why the regular army had been kept 
small was because there seemed to be so little for it to 
do. Its only active service was in suppressing Indian 
outbreaks, which have been growing more infrequent. 
It also served the purpose of enabling the officers to 
maintain the standard of military efficiency. In case 
of war it was intended to serve as a nucleus for the 
volunteer army, upon which it has hitherto been the 
custom of our Government to depend. What we 
should do in case of sudden war with a powerful for- 
eign power, Congress had not thought out. 

Consequently, when war was declared, the Govern- 
ment was obliged to depend on volunteers to fill up 
the army. The President issued calls for 200,000 
volunteer soldiers. Five men stood ready for every 
place that was to be filled. Many of the best young 
men in the land struggled with each other for oppor- 
tunity to go. In many States entire regiments of the 
National Guard volunteered. In some States whole 
regiments were enlisted, organized, and drilled, without 
any authority whatever, in the hope that further calls 
would be made, and, being organized, they would have 
the next chance. 

In addition to the 200,000 volunteers called for by 
the President, Congress authorized an enlargement 
of the regular army from 27,000 to 62,000 men, and 
also the enlistment as " United States Volunteers " of 
10,000 " immunes " (or men who were proof against 
yellow fever), 3,500 engineers, and 3,000 cavalry- 
men. 



58 THE RESCUE OF CUBA 

The Rough Riders Organizing the Volunteers 

The famous " Rough Riders," led by Colonel Theo- 
dore Roosevelt, were part of the volunteer cavalry. 
The regiment of Rough Riders was one of the most 
notable bodies of troops ever enlisted in the United 
States service. Every man was an expert and pictur- 
esque horseman. Side by side in the ranks of this 
very democratic regiment were cowboys from the prai- 
ries, football men from the colleges, and hardy athletes 
from the wealthy clubs of the great cities. 

The volunteer troops could not in the nature of 
things be prepared for service in a brief time as 
completely as the regulars. Congress had made no 
provision for equipping a volunteer army, and the 
equipment furnished by the States was very inadequate. 
Much of the equipment which the States provided was 
either out of date or made for show rather than service. 
With all the riches of the country at the time of the 
declaration of war, there was almost an entire absence 
of clothing, shoes, tents, camp utensils, horses and 
wagons, arms and ammunition available for the active 
service of an army of 250,000 men anywhere, least of 
all in a campaign in a foreign and tropical country, 
mountainous and without roads, and in midsummer. 

The American volunteer soldier is of course not in- 
ured to field service. He is a man of wits and re- 
sources, capable of adapting himself to new conditions 
and rising to occasions; but he can hardly be expected, 
in three months, to carry himself like a professional, 
or to fight as effectually with antiquated arms as the 
veteran with rifles of the highest power. But notwith- 



THE PREPARATION 59 

Krag-Jorgensen Rifle Smokeless Powder 

standing the disadvantages under which most of the 
volunteer troops worked, they pressed forward with 
alacrity, supported the regulars with unfailing courage, 
fought bravely when opportunity offered, and if the 
war had lasted would soon have been professional sol- 
diers themselves. 

The modern Krag-Jorgensen gun has far greater 
velocity, carries much farther, and is more accurate 
than the old Springfield rifle. Not a regiment of the 
State troops, which formed the bulk of the army, was 
equipped with this new gun, however, and the factory 
which made them could not turn out more than one 
hundred and fifty per day; at this rate it took nearly 
two weeks to fit out a single regiment. Many States 
sent arms of different types and calibers, so that they 
could not be served with the same ammunition. 

There was also a scarcity of ammunition at the time 
of the declaration of war. This lack was so great that 
target practice had to be limited. But under the 
emergency appropriation of fifty million dollars, con- 
tracts were let for large quantities of ammunition, and 
the factories were worked night and day, making one 
kind for the regulars and other kinds for the volunteers, 
until they were fairly supplied. 

The sequel proved that smokeless powder played a 
new and a large part in the efficiency and comparative 
safety of the troops. If the volunteer soldiers who 
fought at Santiago had been supplied with the Krag- 
Jorgensen rifle and smokeless powder, they would have 
been more destructive to the enemy; ofifering a less 



QO THE RESCUE OF CUBA 

Wrong Done by Congress The Navy's Preparation 

conspicuous target by their clouds of smoke, they 
would have suffered less slaughter themselves. 

Each passing month saw more deficiencies remedied, 
however, and by the time we were through with the 
war the army was nearly prepared for a war. But it 
is an unpardonable wrong that brave American youth 
must lay down their lives in battle needlessly, or waste 
away with disease in camp, because of the parsimony 
of successive Congresses, or the inaction of State legis- 
latures, or because ambitious politicians insist upon 
trying to do things which none but professional soldiers 
are capable of doing well. 

The navy, fortunately, was better prepared for battle 
than the army, and the navy had to strike the first 
blows. The changes from a peace to a war footing 
in the navy are not so marked as in the army. The 
necessary additions to the force of men are smaller and 
less conspicuous. Moreover, the naval service has 
been saved from the political officer. Men who are 
certain they can lead troops on land have more hesi- 
tation about managing battleships at sea, and so the 
direction of the navy is in hands that are properly and 
thoroughly trained. 

For nearly a score of years Congress had been 
making considerable appropriations for naval vessels. 
Many of these were ready for service, and they were 
the best upon the seas, commanded by the most thor- 
oughly educated naval officers in the world. The 
science of naval architecture had been developed by 



THE PREPARATION 



61 



Buying New Vessels The Naval Reserves 

American naval officers to an extent unequaled by 
any other Government. 

The first and largest expenditures from the special 
fifty million dollar appropriation, made by Congress 
just before the war, were in the purchase of additional 
vessels. Everything available, at home and abroad, 
which would be likely to prove effective was taken. 
Ocean greyhounds, ferryboats.tugs, millionaires' yachts, 
were brought into service. They were all put under 
the command of trained naval officers. Mechanical 
experts were brought from the technical schools, the 
Land-Grant colleges, and the State universities to 
strengthen the force of naval workers. The cadets 
from the Naval Academy at Annapolis were ordered 
to the vessels. 

The militia of the Naval Reserve volunteered for 
service, and most of them were assigned to the auxiliary 
fleet. The sterHng patriotism of this body of men de- 
serves particular mention. The majority of them were 
amateur yachtsmen; some of them were men who 
owned large yachts themselves. When they volun- 
teered, their former organization was broken up and 
they accepted duty on the same level with all the other 
jack-tars of the service. There is a much greater dis- 
tance socially between the officers and men in the navy 
than in the army; yet these yachtsmen, when they 
enlisted aboard the national cruisers, accepted coal- 
heaving and every other humble duty without a 
thought of complaint, showing how deeply ingrained in 
the American mind is the essentially democratic feeling. 



62 THE RESCUE OF CUBA 

Naval Guns Accurate Gunnery 

A gun factory had been established in Washington 
during the last years of President Cleveland's first ad- 
ministration. There enormous guns were turned out 
faster than the ships to carry them could be built. 
Their quality and mechanism have seemed to be per- 
fect. Never has an explosion occurred with one of 
them through flaws in steel or faulty workmanship. 

The American sailor has always been preeminent as 
a marksman. It was fine gunnery as well as seaman- 
ship that had won our brilliant victories in the War of 
1812. As soon as our modern sailors found themselves 
behind the wonderful guns of recent manufacture, 
they set themselves to master all their possibilities. 
Of no use is the highly developed gun unless it hits 
the mark, and it is the American spirit to make every 
machine do its best; consequently target practice has 
been a constant habit of our officers and men. Ships 
have vied with one another in accuracy of marksman- 
ship. Since each cartridge for the heavier guns cost 
more than five hundred dollars, our men invented 
the process of using the intricate machinery of the 
big gun with a common hand-rifle, making due allow- 
ance in placing the target for the difference in carrying 
power. 

By constant application to all kinds of gun practice 
the intelligent American sailor developed a coolness of 
calculation and a fertility of device which made him 
the most skilled and unfailing gunner in the world. 
Notwithstanding this preeminent efficiency, as soon 
as war began to seem probable our officers immediately 





Four Figlning Admirals. 



George Dewey. 
Winfield S. Schley. 



William T. Sampson. 
Pascual de Cervera. 



THE PREPARATION 63 

Training the Navy The Hospital Ship 

increased the amount of gun-shooting, as if they had 
no other object in life than proficiency as gunners. 

Ships assembled in fleets in both oceans and prac- 
ticed in day and night drills. Target practice, search- 
light drills, attacks by torpedo boats, and their repulse 
by the ships catching them in their search-light meshes 
in time to blow them out of the water with the rapid- 
fire guns before they could reach the vessel, were kept 
up hourly until the war with Spain was declared. 
Consequently, when the wire flashed the news of war 
to the impatient ships, and our fleets swept out to sea, 
the navy was in a splendid state of efficiency, both in 
spirit and in intelligent discipline. 

The purchase and equipment of the hospital ship 
Solace gave the American navy the first ambulance 
vessel in the world. Fitted with wards and operating 
rooms and all other modern hospital conveniences, 
and flying the flag of the Red Cross, she was prepared 
to go from vessel to vessel, take off the sick and 
wounded, give them adequate care, and return with 
them to the United States. The fortunes of war 
happily made her service in the Spanish war very in- 
considerable to American sailors, but it is a gratifica- 
tion that she was able to render her service of mercy 
to so many sailors of Spain, turning former enemies 
into friends and admirers of the United States. 

Of course there were some deficiencies in the navy, 
but fortunately they were of a kind which the exigen- 
cies of the service did not happen to make conspicuous. 
The worst one was the lack of dry-dock facilities. 



64 THE RESCUE OF CUBA 

Lack of Dry- Docks Making Smokeless Powder 

With an extensive fleet upon the Atlantic coast, the 
navy has been until very recently without a dry-dock 
capable of accommodating the larger battleships. A 
year before the destruction of Cervera's fleet, the 
battleship Indiana had to be sent to the British dry- 
dock in Halifax for repairs because there was no 
American dock large enough to take her in. The 
trouble, which arose from lack of foresight and from 
undue economy, is being remedied now. Indeed, a 
month after the cessation of hostilities with Spain, a 
dry-dock was completed at New York capable of re- 
ceiving the greatest war vessels of the world at any 
stage of the tide. 

The matter of smokeless powder has come to be as 
important in the navy as in the army. Our ships were 
not supplied with it at Manila or Santiago. We have 
been behind all the first-class and even the second- 
class powers in putting it in use. The New Orleans, a 
ship bought from Brazil just before the war, had it on 
board when she was delivered. Our naval leaders at- 
tribute this slowness of ours to an indisposition to pur- 
chase it abroad. There are good brands of this powder 
in Europe, but we preferred to make it ourselves. We 
could manufacture smokeless powder equal to the for- 
eign article, but it was the wish of our Government to 
wait until we could make a better grade than had yet 
been produced. The subject was very complicated 
and it required the highest scientific knowledge. Ex- 
periments had been going on for six years. There is 
no incentive like that arising from necessity and pride. 



THE PREPARATION 65 



Secretary Long's Foresight Our Critical Condition 

And in thirty days after the need was known to be 
imperative, the Government factory at Newport was 
turning out thousands of pounds daily, and of a quality 
giving greater velocity than had ever before been pro- 
duced in the world. 

A large degree of the readiness of the navy when war 
was declared, was due to the foresight and energy of 
the patriotic Secretary of the Navy and his able First 
Assistant. Secretary John D. Long, a former Gov- 
ernor of Massachusetts, and Assistant Secretary Theo- 
dore Roosevelt, had, since the beginning of President 
McKinley's administration, been working with stead- 
fast diligence to put the naval forces of the Govern- 
ment in the best state of preparation which their 
opportunities and funds would allow. Politics had 
been sedulously kept out of the navy administration ; 
the best men had been assigned for all critical positions ; 
the ships were where they were needed, and all the 
war material available had been placed in easy reach. 
As if the war had been foreseen, this department had 
done its best to prepare for it. 

Taking all things together we were not more than 
half prepared for war when the executive ofificers of 
the Government were forced to begin hostilities by the 
Act of Congress. The navy was more than half pre- 
pared ; but the army was hardly prepared at all. In 
a few days 225,000 American citizens who had scarcely 
been in a camp and never seen a battle had to be 
organized, clothed, armed, and sent into the field. 



66 THE RESCUE OF CUBA 

Misgivings of Many Unhesitating Courage 

The men, it is true, were at hand ; but there was not 
much more of the outfit of an army ready. There 
were many who had misgivings. No doubt of the 
ultimate result was felt. No one questioned the power 
of the United States to conquer Spain eventually, in 
both the New World and the Old ; but many, who 
knew the traditional pride of the Spanish people and 
the fighting qualities of the Spanish soldier, feared that 
it would be done only after serious reverses and at 
great cost. 

Yet the people would not hesitate. They trusted 
that great resources in the hands of Anglo-Saxon in- 
telligence and energy, and in a good cause, would give 
us the victory ; and that each day of zealous prepara- 
tion, under the pressure of the demands of battles not 
far off, would hasten the end and make it more over- 
whelming. They did not know just how the end 
would come, nor to what it, in turn, would lead; but, 
guided by sound impulses and having confidence in 
themselves, they were willing to wait for time to make 
it clear. 



DEWEY'S BATTLE IN MANILA BAY 67 

The First Blow Philippine Island; 

CHAPTER V 

Dewey's Battle in Manila Bay 

THE first blow delivered by the United States in 
behalf of Cuba was struck on the other side of 
the globe, in Asiatic waters; but it was so hard that it 
startled the nations of Europe and was heard with 
great satisfaction in every part of the United States. 

The chief colonial possessions remaining to Spain, 
before this war, aside from Cuba and Puerto Rico, 
were the Philippine Islands. This is a group of some 
twelve hundred islands, about four hundred of which 
are inhabited, lying off the southeast coast of China. 
The largest one, Luzon, is about the size of the State 
of Kentucky. The Philippines have a population of 
perhaps seven million people, chiefly Malays, though 
many of the inhabitants have Spanish blood. The 
office-holders and tax-gatherers were, of course, Span- 
iards. 

Much of the territory is fertile. The chief products 
are rice, sugar, coffee, tobacco, and hemp. The value 
of the commerce of the Philippines is estimated at 
more than fifty million dollars annually. The mineral 
deposits and lumber are considered to be exceedingly 
valuable, but have never been developed with modern 
business methods and energy. 



68 THE RESCUE OF CUBA 

Importance of the Philippines Defenses of Manila 

The islands are upon the natural highways of Oriental 
commerce and are of enormous commercial and military 
importance, not only because of the value of their prod- 
ucts, but also because of their safe harbors, their sup- 
plies of coal, and the relation in which they stand to 
the world's trade with the unknown resources of the 
vast regions embraced in the eastern countries of 
Asia, 

Spanish oppression, extortion, and cruelty in the 
Philippines finally produced there an insurrection 
scarcely less formidable than that in Cuba. Under 
the leadership of Aguinaldo, a young native somewhat 
educated, thousands of the people were engaged in a 
bloody warfare against the authority of Spain. This 
had led the Spaniards heavily to fortify and arm the 
capital, Manila, a city with its suburbs of three hundred 
thousand inhabitants, situated thirty-five miles from 
the open ocean, on Manila Bay. Forts were erected 
at the entrance to the bay and an ef^cient army was 
established in the city. The Government arsenal and 
naval station is at Cavite, on the right-hand side of the 
bay as we enter, and about three quarters of the way 
from the entrance to the city. 

At the prospect of war with the United States, the 
fortifications and the army at Manila were strengthened 
and a considerable Spanish fleet gathered there. 

Before the end of February, 1898, Commodore 
George Dewey of the United States Navy, under in- 
structions from the Government at Washington, began 
to assemble the greater part of the American warships, 




A Map of the Philippine Islands. 



DEWEY'S BATTLE IN MANILA BAY 69 

Our Fleet in the Pacific The Start for Manila 

which were in the Pacific Ocean, at the British port of 
Hong-Kong, about six hundred miles from Manila. 

By the 19th of April, the day that Congress passed 
its resolutions of war, the fleet consisted of the Olym- 
pia, the Boston, the Concord, the Raleigh, and the 
Petrel. On that day they began to be painted a slate 
color, thus putting on their fighting uniform. On the 
22nd the Baltimore arrived from Yokohama, out of re- 
pair. But she had no thought of losing her part in com- 
ing events, and by the end of forty-eight hours, with 
the characteristic energy of our officers, she had been 
put in dry-dock, scraped, repaired, painted, coaled, 
provisioned, and otherwise made ready for her business. 

Upon the declaration of war it became at once neces- 
sary for these vessels to leave Hong-Kong, for under 
the neutrality laws, observed by all nations, when two 
powers are at war the ships of either cannot harbor 
with any other nation with which they are at peace. 
It is said that the first notice Commodore Dewey had 
that war had actually been declared came in the form 
of a request from the British Foreign Office, on the 
24th of April, that the fleet should leave Hong-Kong 
on that account. He replied that he would depart 
from the harbor immediately. 

The squadron at once got under way for Manila. It 
left Hong-Kong with bands playing and amid the 
cheers of the American and English residents. It was 
accompanied by the revenue cutter Hugh McCuUoch 
as a dispatch boat, and two merchant vessels carrying 
ten thousand tons of coal. There were in the fleet 



70 THE RESCUE OF CUBA 

The Daring Venture Confident of Victory 

seventeen hundred as strong-hearted American boys 
as ever sailed any sea upon a dangerous and heroic 
venture. 

That their errand was daring in the extreme, no one 
can doubt. The number of Spanish vessels at Manila 
exceeded the number of American vessels, although in 
armament and equipment there was not much differ- 
ence. The American vessels were cruisers, not battle- 
ships, as the more formidable ships of our navy are 
called. In ships of the same class we were to meet 
about an equal number, and of smaller craft a larger 
number; but the obvious advantage was against the 
American fleet because of the forts at the mouth of 
the harbor, the batteries and arsenal at Cavite, the 
submerged torpedoes, and the fortifications and troops 
at the city. 

It was daring for another reason. The officers of 
the American fleet had never been in that harbor be- 
fore. The result was not only much in doubt, but 
every man believed he had reason to expect that, if 
the battle were lost, the Spanish would do by any 
American prisoners as they had done very com- 
monly by prisoners of war,— either massacre them in- 
stantly, or else, with more ceremony, take them into 
the public square of the city and shoot them there. 
But hearts were strong and buoyant, and eyes fol- 
lowed the flag as every man thought of the far-away 
home and moved on to duty and to fame. 

The voyage to Manila was uneventful, but each 
day preparations for battle went steadily forward. 



DEWEY'S BATTLE IN MANILA BAY 71 

The Voyage to Manila Entering the Harbor 

Gun drills were maintained, and once or twice in the 
middle of the night the blare of the bugles and the 
flashing of red and white signal lights called quickly 
upon the fleet to ' ' clear for action. ' ' Each crew sprang 
to quarters and the entire fleet was put in readiness 
for battle. The captains reported to the Commodore 
that every man was at his place and every gun ready 
for action inside of seven minutes from the time when 
the crews were soundly sleeping. At evening time 
the bands played patriotic airs, and as they came to 
" Yankee Doodle " and " The Star-Spangled Banner," 
the men sang the words with a feeling which gave con- 
fidence in approaching victory. 

On Saturday morning, the 30th of April, they were 
in sight of the island of Luzon. Everyone was astir, 
the decks were sanded, and all unnecessary material 
which might take fire in battle was tossed to the waves. 
No sight of the enemy's ships was caught that day, but 
it was made certain that they were harboring in the 
calm waters, behind the forts, the arsenal, and the sub- 
marine mines of Manila Bay. At five o'clock in the 
afternoon the commanders were called on board the 
flagship, the Olympia, for consultation with the com- 
mander-in-chief and for final orders. 

The hour of twelve, midnight, was fixed for passing 
the forts at the entrance to the harbor in order to be 
ready for an engagement at daylight. The problem 
was to find the enemy just at daybreak and not before. 
The early part of the night was cloudy and dark. No 
lights were allowed save one at the stern of each ves- 



72 THE RESCUE OF CUBA 



The First Gun The Answer 



sel, covered at the front and two sides, for the guidance 
of the ship which was following, and no word was 
to be spoken or movement made unless by the orders 
of the commanders. At eleven o'clock the crews were 
called to quarters to be ready for any emergency, and 
at midnight the ships, in single column, the flagship 
leading, commenced the perilous passage. 

The forts at the entrance to the bay are upon Cor- 
regidor Island, six hundred feet above the water level, 
and at El Fraile on the opposite side. The channel 
on one side is one mile and that on the other side five 
miles wide. The entrance was made by the wider 
channel and between the forts. 

As the fleet passed the island a rocket flashed from 
the fort on the hill and was answered apparently by 
lights on the shore. It was supposed that this would 
be followed by an immediate attack from the Krupp 
guns in the shore batteries, but it was not. The ships 
moved forward until opposite the second fort, on a 
small island near the shore, when there was a bright 
flash, the boom of a gun, and the scream of a shell 
overhead ; and this was followed by a second and a third. 

The Raleigh, which was third in the line, replied 
with a five-inch shell, and the Concord and the Boston, 
coming next, each in turn opened fire. The shells 
from the shore batteries fell wide of the mark, but with 
the second flash the Yankee gunners had the spot from 
which they came and placed a six-inch shell so effectu- 
ally that it killed an officer and forty-one men and 
silenced the battery completely. 



DEWEY'S BATTLE IN MANILA BAY 73 

Final Preparations for Battle The Attack at Dawn 

Then the fleet passed on toward the city. The 
night wore away quietly and slowly. Towards morn- 
ing the moon broke through the clouds. Some of the 
sailors lay down at their stations and dozed. The 
finishing touches were put on for the great battle which 
was at hand. The men were once more instructed as 
to first aid for the injured; the decks were sanded 
again ; the boats were covered with canvas to prevent 
their being splintered by flying shell; the ammunition 
hoists were wound with cable-chains; wood partitions 
were torn out and thrown overboard ; all impediments 
were put out of the way; everything that American 
wit and industry could do to get in the best possible 
condition for action was done. 

The lights of Manila came ih sight early and were 
kept directly in the line of progress. At dawn the 
fleet was about four miles from the city. At four 
o'clock coffee and hard-tack were served. It was Sun- 
day morning and it was " May-day." At a quarter 
past five the forts on the Manila shore and on the shore 
opposite, at Cavite, fired some shots, but their shells fell 
a full mile from the fleet. No reply was made. The 
man on the bridge of the flagship had his plan and was 
not to be diverted from it. The dispatch boat McCul- 
loch and the transports stopped in the middle of the 
bay. The cruisers passed on in single file even beyond 
the city, and then swung around to the right, and, 
under full steam, made straight for the arsenal at 
Cavite and for the Spanish fleet which was anchored 
there. 



74 THE RESCUE OF CUBA 

The Flagship Opens Turning the Circle 

By this time the fire from the forts and the Spanish 
vessels, each with great battle-flags of red and gold 
aloft, was continuous; but the shells fell short. The 
American gunners stood at their pieces with smiling 
but tense faces. The American squadron pressed on 
rapidly in a line as straight as a fleet of boats in tow. 
A signal from the flagship said, " Fire as convenient," 
but they all reserved their fire for closer range. When 
the range-finder showed two miles, Dewey said in a 
quiet voice to the captain of his ship, the historic 
words : 

" When you are ready, you may fire, Mr. Gridley." 

The message instantly reached the eager men at the 
eight-inch guns in the forward turret, and at just 5.35 
the first projectiles were hurled with a flash and a roar 
at the fated ships of Spain. Like an echo came the boom 
of the opening fire from all the other American ships, 
as they discharged their port batteries. The air was 
full of shells and smoke, and the water was splashed 
about our ships with the Spanish shot. To give our 
gunners a better sight the speed was slowed down. 

After all had passed the anchored Spanish fleet, our 
line swung around and returned over the same course, 
firing the starboard batteries. Suddenly, about a 
thousand yards ahead of the Olympia, a waterspout 
arose; a submarine mine had been exploded, but with 
inaccurate calculation. 

When the Spanish flagship, the Reina Cristina, saw 
that the mine had failed, she slipped her mooring and 
charged direct at the Olympia, like a maddened pan- 







I ■ 



h 

t'h 



.4, 






DEWEY'S BATTLE IN MANILA BAY 75 

Reina Christina's Charge Fate of the Torpedo Boats 

then But the guns of all the fleet were upon her, 
and the marksmanship of the cool-headed American 
gunners did not fail. No vessel could stand under 
that gunnery. In a few moments the white ship was in 
flames, with great holes torn in her sides, and she turned 
to flee. But even as she headed to seek safety, the 
trained eye of a gunner in the Olympia's forward 
turret sent a terrible projectile after her, which struck 
her stern and plunged clear through her bow, sweep- 
ing down her captain and sixty men. Then it was 
** save who can." 

Admiral Montojo had his boat lowered from the 
wrecked ship and changed his flag to the Isla de Cuba. 
This vessel immediately became the target of the re- 
sistless American batteries, and soon in her turn she 
was burning and going down. But before she sank 
the Admiral signaled to his two torpedo boats to go 
out and do for the Olympia what he had been unable 
to accomplish. 

Across the bay came charging these little demons of 
war. The Olympia's big guns first greeted them, but 
missed their mark, the speed of the boats being so great 
and the targets so small. They arrived within eight 
hundred yards and in a moment more would have dis- 
charged their torpedoes. But they came no farther. 
The secondary battery and the rapid-fire guns were 
now raining their shells and solid shot upon them. 
From one of them there arose a white explosion, and 
she dropped under the waves forever. The other, 
sorely wounded, and dazed by the fate of her consort, 



76 THE RESCUE OF CUBA 

Two More Ships Burning Stopping for Breakfast 

turned like the flagship and sought the beach, where 
she was found later, pierced, shattered, and bloody. 

Having once more passed the enemy, our vessels 
turned around again and steamed back to fire upon the 
other side. This time it was the Don Antonio de 
Ulloa and the Castillo that were overwhelmed. Our 
gunners were worn, but they seemed to gain in pre- 
cision and fired with the coolness of target practice. 
The wonderful victory they were gaining lifted them 
above exhaustion. The Spanish captains had nailed 
their flags to the masts, and their men were fighting 
with the desperate bravery of those for whom there is 
nothing but death. 

Then the Olympia drew out of the line, to the sur- 
prise of the whole fleet. Some feared that she was in 
distress, but as she came within hearing of the other 
ships their men cheered and her men cheered back 
with such spirit that no further assurance of her con- 
dition was needed. Commodore Dewey signaled the 
fleet to withdraw and serve breakfast. 

It was now half-past seven o'clock and the battle 
had raged more than two hours. Several Spanish ves- 
sels were burning and there was also a fire at the 
arsenal. Yet their guns were still at work with no 
sign of surrender. Our men were displeased at the 
order to cease firing and to eat, because the victory had 
not yet been completely won. They wanted no re- 
freshment while there was a Spanish warship afloat. 
But the Commodore knew best. He desired to know 
the condition of his ships and the state of the ammuni- 



DEWEY'S BATTLE IN MANILA BAY 77 

A Council The Battle Renewed 

tion. The captains were summoned to the flagship, 
and soon returned to their vessels with the good news 
that not a man had been killed in the fleet, and only 
half a dozen slightly wounded ; and they also gave 
the assurance that the assault would soon be renewed 
and the battle fought to a finish. 

So the fleet drew off to the middle of the bay and 
waited while the men took breath and had their break- 
fast ; the guns grew cool, the ammunition was rein- 
forced, the machinery was examined, and everything 
put in fresh order for a finishing onset. 

At twenty minutes before eleven the signal came to 
recommence the attack. The plan of battle had been 
changed. The Spanish ships had been so much dam- 
aged as to be practically out of the fight. Now, in- 
stead of the American fleet moving up and down in 
front of the forts and the Spanish ships, and firing as 
they went, the orders were to go directly towards 
them, stop, get the range, then choose a mark and hit 
it with accuracy. The Baltimore went in first, at full 
speed, almost disappearing in her own smoke. She 
not only used her larger guns, but approached so close 
that she could use the rapid-fire guns in her smaller 
battery. In twenty minutes the Olympia followed 
her. Then in turn the Boston, the Raleigh, and 
the Concord followed. The little Petrel, which drew 
less water than the rest, ran in and out firing inces- 
santly at the ships and the forts until the sailors 
named her the " baby battleship." By one o'clock 
all the larger Spanish vessels were sunk or on fire, 



78 THE RESCUE OF CUBA 

The White Flag No Americans Killed 

and out of action, and the forts were disabled and 
burning. 

Five minutes later the " baby battleship " signaled 
to the Commodore that the enemy had struck his colors 
and that a white flag was flying over the fort at Cavite. 
The battle had now been completely won. The firing 
ceased and the crews climbed the rigging to cheer and 
cheer again at the marvelous, triumphant battle seven 
thousand miles from any American soil. To them it 
brought enduring fame, and to the officers it brought 
the thanks of their countrymen and promotion. For 
a time all rules were suspended ; if it should be said 
that the captains danced with old jack-tars, and the 
Commodore gave vent to his feelings by hugging the 
cabin-boy, we could readily believe it. 

There had been many false rumors through the fleet 
about the killed and wounded upon the diff'erent ves- 
sels. When it was announced that there were none 
killed and but half a dozen slightly wounded, it seemed 
impossible. For four hours they had been under the 
incessant fire of heavy guns. The Olympia had been 
hit thirteen times, and none of the others had escaped. 
The intensity of feeling, when it was known that the 
crews were all safe, made many of the strongest men 
burst into tears of joy. 

It was a battle in which scientific skill had decided 
the result. The Spaniards had apparently poured their 
metal into the bay at random. The American com- 
mander had maneuvered his fleet with a calm and 
trained judgment which minimized the effect of the 



DEWEY'S BATTLE IN MANILA BAY 79 

The Triumph of Skill The World's Amazement 

enemy's shots, and the American gunners had used 
their guns with as much dehberation and precision as 
though engaged in target practice. It was the triumph 
of skill and accurate marksmanship over mere daring 
without training, the victory of manly courage working 
through science over desperate valor without scientific 
direction. 

The world heard the news of this extraordinary 
battle with absolute amazement. No battle like it 
had ever been fought. Destruction as great had be- 
fallen the vanquished in other battles, but never before 
had such annihilation been wrought without the cost 
of a single life to the victors. Europe instantly com- 
prehended that the United States, notwithstanding 
the comparative smallness of her navy, was one of the 
most formidable naval powers in the world. The 
people in America were in a tumult of joy and pride. 
While victory had been expected, none could have 
fancied it to be so complete. It was the most wonder- 
ful triumph of American arms in our history. Com- 
modore Dewey, with his officers and men, received the 
thanks of the President and Congress; he was named 
Acting Admiral, and soon after was made Rear- 
Admiral. If the war lacked any popularity before, it 
was wanting no longer. It was a victory with deeper 
results in the United States than in Manila. 

Following the battle the Petrel steamed out from 
behind the forts at Cavite with a half-dozen captured 
vessels in her tow. One of these, the Manila, had six 
hundred tons of coal and many beef-cattle on board, 



80 THE RESCUE OF CUBA 



The Forts Silenced Waiting for the Army 

both of which were needed. On the next day a detail 
was sent on shore to bury the Spanish dead and reheve 
their wounded. Occasion was taken to advise the 
Captain-General of the PhiHppines and the people of 
Manila that if one shot was fired at the fleet from the 
fortifications at Manila the city would be laid in ashes. 
In a day or two the forts at the mouth of the bay were 
reduced. 

Then the fleet settled down to wait nearly three 
months for an American army to come from over the 
seas to occupy the city. 



THE ATTACK ON SANTIAGO 81 

New Names in our History Sailing of Fleet 

CHAPTER VI 

The Attack on Santiago 

GUANTANAMO, Daiquiri, Guasimas, El Caney, 
San Juan, and Santiago, — these names mark 
the landing of the American army in Cuba, and the 
route of progress to a splendid triumph of American 
arms on that island. But they stand for much more, 
— for heroism and aggressiveness, for patience, endur- 
ance, and persistence, for hardship and death, for the 
expulsion of the Spaniard, and the final termination of 
Spanish rule in America. 

The first armed movement towards the expulsion 
from Cuba of the Spanish army of nearly 200,(X)0 men, 
was to establish a blockade of naval vessels along the 
coast in order to cut off from that army all information 
and supplies. 

War actually began on the 2ist of April, when the 
telegraph operator at the White House sent out the 
President's order to the waiting fleet at Key West to 
sail instantly to Cuba. For days these warships under 
Rear-Admiral Sampson had been awaiting that order, 
ready like racers to spring at the signal. The captains 
were in the Admiral's cabin on board the New York late 
in the evening of the 2ist when the dispatch arrived. 
Within an hour the search-lights had begun feeling 



82 THE RESCUE Of CUBA 



The Blockade First Actions 



their way out of the harbor, and before daylight of the 
22nd the whole fleet was in the open sea sweeping 
towards Havana. 

There was, as yet, however, no army for invasion. 
The President had not even called for volunteers when 
our sailors arrived before Morro Castle. Until an ade- 
quate invading force could be gathered and equipped 
it would have been useless to attempt to batter down 
the powerful fortifications of Havana. While the new 
troops were assembling in their various camps, it was 
the navy's business only to look out for the enemy's 
fleet, and to isolate the enemy's army from supplies 
and communication. 

Reinforced from day to day with the newly obtained 
vessels of all sorts, the American Admiral stretched a 
cordon of blockaders well around the island. The first 
action of the war was the bombardment of the fortifi- 
cations of Matanzas, not far eastward from Havana, on 
the 28th of April. At Cardenas Bay, on the nth of 
May, there was a sharp engagement with Spanish bat- 
teries and gunboats, in which Ensign Bagley and four 
men on the torpedo boat Winslow were killed. On 
the same day several men from the Marblehead were 
killed while cutting a cable at Cienfuegos. The Span- 
ish Admiral, Cervera, with a formidable fleet, had sailed 
from Spain, and Sampson cruised eastward to San 
Juan, Puerto Rico, in the hope of meeting him. Fail- 
ing to find the Spanish fleet, he bombarded the fort? 
of San Juan for a few hours on the 12th of May, and 
then returned to Cuba. 



THE ATTACK ON SANTIAGO 83 

The New Army First Army Movement 

But meanwhile our new army of over 250,000 men 
was being mobilized as rapidly as possible. To the 
impatient people the mustering in, the equipping, and 
the drilling of these troops seemed to be very slow, 
and we were shown for the first time how impossible it 
would have been to meet on even terms an invading 
army of a first-class European power, like Great Britain, 
if promptly thrown upon our territory. 

From State camps the regiments were transferred to 
national rendezvous, the most famous of which were 
Camp Thomas at Chattanooga and Camp Alger near 
Washington. Thence, as the troops became ready for 
service, they could be transported to the ports most 
convenient for embarkation. Tampa, on the west 
coast of Florida, — the same Tampa where, nearly four 
centuries before, the Spanish cavalier, De Soto, started 
on his adventurous march through the unknown lands 
which now are part of the United States, — was selected 
as the best point of departure for the expedition to 
Cuba. 

The Fifth Army Corps was encamped here under 
Major-General Wm. R. Shafter. This body of troops, 
most of whom were regulars, had the honor of consti- 
tuting the first expedition of land forces for the rescue 
of Cuba. 

There were several reasons, however, why it seemed 
wise to delay the expedition. A fleet of transport 
ships conveying an army over hostile waters is at the 
mercy of even a very inferior enemy. A single well- 
directed shell or torpedo could sink a ship carrying a 



84 THE RESCUE OF CUBA 

Dangers to Transports False Rumors 

thousand defenseless soldiers. Although the warships 
which would convoy a fleet of transports might quickly 
annihilate the enemy's squadron, nevertheless the 
chance of sinking a number of our crowded transports 
would warrant any Spanish commander in making the 
desperate attack. Consequently it would seem like a 
tempting of fate for a vast expedition of soldiers to 
venture out until the sea was reasonably safe from the 
enemy's cruisers and torpedo boats. 

Spain proved formidable in her power of sending out 
misleading rumors. Such contradictory reports were 
received from various quarters of Europe, as well as 
from numbers of ports in the neighborhood of the 
West Indies, that it became impossible to tell where 
the powerful fleets of Admiral Cervera and Admiral 
Camara were to be found. They might be in the ports 
of Spain ; they might be at the Canary or Cape Verde 
Islands ; they might be hovering near the New Eng- 
land coast; they might be dodging among the islands 
of the Caribbean Sea. Certainly, until they were either 
located or destroyed, the open sea was no place for 
16,000 soldiers gathered on the frail transports. 

Consequently, from week to week the impetuous 
army waited on the burning sand at Tampa while the 
navy seemed to have all the opportunities for service. 

The first attempt of the American army to land on 
the shore of Cuba was made on the 12th of May by 
the ofificers and men of the First United States In- 
fantry, who had been sent on the steamer Gussie to 
carry supplies to the Cubans. The Spaniards, how- 



THE ATTACK OA SANTIAGO 85 

A Repulse Admiral Cervera's Fleet 

ever, had intercepted the Cuban party, and appeared 
in such force and resisted the attempts to land with 
such spirit that the Americans withdrew without mak- 
ing connection with their Cuban alHes. Though our 
troops suffered no loss, but inflicted considerable dam- 
age upon the Spanish, we were obliged to admit that 
the first advantage rested with the enemy. 

During the next fortnight the fleet of Admiral Cer- 
vera arrived on this side of the ocean and was finally 
discovered in Santiago harbor. The voyage of this 
hostile force from Cadiz to Santiago was romantic with 
interest to the world. 

When the war broke out, this fleet was at the Cape 
Verde Islands. These islands belong to Portugal. 
Our Government protested against the fleet being 
harbored in a neutral port, in violation of international 
law. After much delay Portugal informed the Gov- 
ernment at Washington, the 26th of April, that the 
Spanish ships would be given forty-eight hours in 
which to leave the Cape Verde Islands. On the 
28th of April, however, they were still there. But 
Portugal now definitely declared her neutrality, and 
Cervera, having had ample time to provision and coal 
his fleet, steamed leisurely away. Where he had gone 
was a mystery. He was reported to be at the Canary 
Islands. He was reported to have arrived in Spain. 
He was said to have been seen crossing the Atlantic. 
His fleet, though not large in number, was powerful 
because of its homogeneity. It had no slow transports 
to retard its progress. It consisted of the five armored 



86 THE RESCUE OF CUBA 

Formidable Spanish Cruisers Cervera Arrives 

cruisers, the Cristobal Colon, the Infanta Maria Teresa, 
the Almirante Oquendo, the Vizcaya, the Reina Mer- 
cedes, and three swift torpedo-boat destroyers. 

A fleet like this, properly ofificered and worked, could 
be used like a single machine. Its power of damage 
to the United States was enormous. It might appear 
suddenly of? Boston harbor and lay that wealthy and 
poorly defended city in ashes if it refused the tribute 
of millions which would naturally be demanded. Or 
it might appear before New York and, though in the 
face of greater danger to itself, might still inflict incon- 
ceivable disaster; again, it might proceed more to the 
southward and intercept our battleship, the Oregon, 
then steaming northward on its long voyage from 
Puget Sound around Cape Horn. It might throw 
itself into the harbor of San Juan, Puerto Rico, and 
use that haven as a basis for mischievous operations 
against the Americans. 

From each of these quarters came reports of strange 
warships having been seen, and our commanders con- 
tinued, in painful uncertainty, the necessary policy of 
waiting. 

Finally the uncertainty lifted. About the nth of 
May the Spanish flotilla was definitely reported at the 
French island of Martinique, and shortly after, at the 
island of Curagao, just north of Venezuela. 

While Sampson was returning from his hunt for 
Cervera at Puerto Rico, the Spaniard was sailing due 
northwest for Santiago de Cuba, which he reached on 
the 19th of May. His arrival at Santiago was not 



THE ATTACK ON SANTIAGO 87 

Locating Cervera Lieut. Victor Blue's Reconnoissance 

known by the Americans with certainty for several 
days. While Sampson kept guard near Key West, 
Commodore Schley with the " flying squadron " was 
watching the harbor of Cienfuegos on the southern 
coast of Cuba, where Cervera was reported to be hid- 
den. At last his hiding-place at Santiago was dis- 
covered, and on the 28th of May, Schley, with his 
flagship the Brooklyn, accompanied by the Massa- 
chusetts, the Texas, the Iowa, the Marblehead, the 
Minneapolis, the Castine, the torpedo boat Dupont, 
and the auxiliary cruiser St. Paul, the coaling ship 
Merrimac, and others, arrived off Santiago ; and the 
next day they were able to look through the nar- 
row neck of the bottle-shaped harbor and to see the 
enemy's ships lying safely at anchor behind the frown- 
ing fortifications and the network of submarine tor- 
pedoes. 

To verify fully the assurance that all of the Spanish 
vessels were there. Lieutenant Victor Blue, of the navy, 
made a daring and famous reconnoissance. He landed 
and, at the greatest risk, climbed the hills, counted 
one by one the enemy's ships, and returned with the 
report that the five cruisers and two torpedo boats 
were actually imprisoned in the bay. 

In a few days Rear-Admiral Sampson, with the flag« 
ship New York and the battleship Oregon, the cruiser 
New Orleans, and several auxiliary vessels and torpedo 
boats, reinforced Commodore Schley and took com- 
mand of the fleet that was keeping Cervera" bottled " 
in Santiago. 



THE RESCUE OF CUBA 



Lieutenant Hobson's Exploit A "Bottled" Fleet 

Then in a few days followed an exploit which awoke 
the admiration of the world and lifted a hitherto ob- 
scure young officer to the summit of fame. Lieuten- 
ant Hobson took the coaling ship Merrimac by night 
beneath the guns of the forts, and while under the most 
terrible fire from both shores, endeavored to anchor 
his ship in the narrow channel, to sink her by his own 
hand, in order thus to leave her wreck to block the 
Spanish ships if they should attempt to escape. That 
the Merrimac was not sunk at the precise spot in- 
tended was due to the rudder being shot away. 

When morning came he and his six companions who 
had volunteered for the enterprise were, as by a miracle, 
alive and unhurt, clinging to a raft. The story of that 
unrivaled exploit is fully told in a later chapter. The 
fact that the attempt to close the harbor was not fully 
successful does not detract from the sublime heroism 
of the men. 

The situation now was this : The Spanish fleet was 
indeed besieged ; it might dash for liberty, but, in the 
face of such a superior and vigilant force, it would have 
but little chance. On the other hand, the besiegers 
were unable to reach it so long as it chose to remain in 
its haven ; the narrow channel was a network of sub- 
marine mines which would sink the first vessel that 
entered ; and the lofty forts on the cliffs above could 
at such close range pour down an annihilating torrent 
of shells upon the thin decks of the attacking ships, 
which, at that nearness, could not lift their guns suffi- 
ciently to silence the batteries. Their elevation was 



THE ATTACK ON SANTIAGO 89 

A Land Attack Needed Heroism of Marines 

SO great that successive bombardments, though they 
damaged, did not destroy the batteries. 

Nevertheless, until they were destroyed or captured 
it was evident that the ships could not advance into 
the channel to clear it of its sunken torpedoes. The 
aid of the army was therefore necessary. A force by 
land was required to capture the harbor forts, so that 
the battleships might countermine the channel, steam 
in, and engage the Spanish fleet. 

Accordingly, General Shafter was ordered to take 
his troops, land near Santiago, and capture the forts. 

Before he started, however, the navy, on the loth 
of June, made a landing. It was the first permanent 
foothold gained by Americans on Cuba. Under the 
protection of the guns of the Oregon, the Marblehead, 
and the Yosemite, six hundred marines landed at 
Guantanamo Bay, in command of Lieutenant-Colonel 
R. W. Huntington. Their landing was stoutly resisted 
by the Spaniards. All day and all night the fighting 
continued, as the little band desperately defended their 
camp from the continuous and encircling volleys. 
Here were the first American lives lost on Cuban soil. 
But, in spite of their severe losses, the marines held the 
flag where they had planted it. 

General Shafter's expedition started on the 14th of 
June. Thirty-five transports carried sixteen thousand 
men. They went under the protection of fourteen 
armed vessels of the navy. The battleship Indiana 
led the way. Six days later they came in sight of 
Morro Castle at the entrance to the bay of Santiago, 



90 THE RESCUE OF CUBA 

Welcome to General Shafter Rapid Landing of Troops 

and directly they heard the cheers of the crews of the 
battleships on duty there. 

Very soon Rear-Admiral Sampson came aboard to 
confer with General Shafter, and then both were rowed 
ashore at Acerraderos, under the protection of the fleet, 
to confer with the Cuban General, Garcia, and arrange 
for the landing of the army. As the boat neared the 
shore the Cuban soldiers plunged into the water and 
surrounded it, welcoming and cheering the American 
officers. 

On the second morning thereafter, the battleships 
shelled the shore at four different points along the 
forty miles of coast in order to mislead the Spaniards; 
and then at nine o'clock the signal was given for all the 
troops to go ashore as quickly as possible at Daiquiri, 
sixteen miles east of the entrance to Santiago harbor 
and twenty-four miles west of Guantanamo, where 
the marines were still maintaining the flag they had 
planted. 

In a moment the water was covered with small boats. 
Men jumped overboard and swam to shore in their 
anxiety to be first upon the land. Soon the beach 
was black with American soldiers. The Spaniards had 
fled in haste, leaving their camp equipment, and in 
some cases their breakfasts, behind them. Then the 
unloading of the transports began. Men with little 
or no clothing upon them went back and forth from 
the ships to the shore carrying the arms and supplies. 
The artillery was landed at the one little dock of an 
iron company. The horses and mules were pushed 



THE ATTACK ON SANTIAGO 91 

" Old Glory" on Cuban Soil Advance Begun 

overboard and left to swim ashore ; though some 
of them swam out to the open ocean and forgot to 
come back. 

In a short time four men were seen cHmbing the 
mountain side hundreds of feet above the level of the 
sea. Soon the tiny figures were attracting the atten- 
tion of the crowd. They were making for the block- 
house at the highest peak. They could be seen to 
stop and look into the fort for a moment ; then to reach 
the house. Directly " Old Glory " appeared waving 
against the sky. In an instant every steam whistle in 
the great fleet, for miles around, was shrieking, and 
every man on the decks and in the rigging of the ships, 
in the water and on the shore, was shouting for the 
flag of freedom and for what it represented and pro- 
claimed. 

The little army was stretched out upon the shore, 
and that night its camp-fires sparkled for miles against 
the black background of the hills. 

The advance upon Santiago was begun immediately. 
General Shafter understood clearly that he had more 
to fear from climatic sickness than from the enemy's 
bullets, and determined to finish the fight with the 
greatest rapidity possible. Consequently he did not 
wait for the unloading of all his supplies, but pushed 
his men forward over the mountain paths with only 
such outfit as they could carry on their backs, intend- 
ing to follow them closely with the heavy artillery and 
the baggage-trains. 

But he was not aware of the true condition of the 



92 THE RESCUE OF CUBA 



The Trying March Lightening the Loads 

roads. There were no roads. What were called such 
on the maps were at best but bridle-paths, and more 
often mere mountain trails. These trails passed over 
rocks, fallen timber, through swamps, and over bridge- 
less streams. The soldiers, as soon as they began to 
march, found themselves an army of mountain climbers. 
The sun burned in the breathless glades like a furnace. 
It was the rainy season, and each day showers of icy 
coldness would pour down for hours; and when the 
rain ceased the sun would beat down more fiercely 
than before, while the humidity was insupportable. 
Sun-baked paths suddenly became mountain torrents; 
at one hour the men were sufTocated with the fine 
dust, the next hour they were wading in mud above 
their gaiters. Strange and unheard-of insects buzzed 
about them, and they were followed by an army of 
disagreeable attendants with which they soon became 
very familiar — clattering land-crabs, the scavengers of 
the country. 

The progress of the troops was a crawling rather than 
a march. Under the excessive heat thousands of the 
soldiers threw away blankets, ponchos, haversacks, 
coats, and even underclothing. The bumping cans of 
preserved meat which they carried were cast into the 
bush, and many preferred to trust to luck for their 
next meal rather than be burdened with even the sim- 
plest food. But guns and cartridge-belts no one threw 
away. 

Then at night the cool of the evening was quickly 
succeeded by a chill which penetrated the wet clothing 



THE ATTACK ON SANTIAGO 93 

Spirit under Difficulties Boundless Courage 

and to the very bone. Yet there was less grumbling 
among these soldierly men than would be heard at a 
picnic spoiled by a shower. They had one desire, and 
that was to get over the ground and reach the enemy. 
The Spaniards withdrew as our soldiers advanced. 
Most of our men had never heard a gun fired in battle, 
but they expected the conflict now to begin at any 
time. There was, however, no trepidation ; they made 
little noise lest they might not get near to the enemy ; 
they thought how much more fortunate they were 
than their fellows in the home camps, because to 
them had been given the perilous duty of making the 
attack. 



\ 



94 THE RESCUE OF CUBA 

The Rough Riders Their Two Colonels 

CHAPTER VII 

The Attack on Santiago 

(Continued) 

Guasimas 

BUT if the army moved slowly, events moved 
rapidly. On the second day, even before the 
whole army was ashore, the first battle with loss of 
life occurred. The troops were advancing by different 
paths to take position on the line of battle which was 
to surround the city. Near the center was the First 
Regiment of United States Volunteer Cavalry, popu- 
larly called the " Rough Riders." 

This regiment of cowboys and ranchmen, with a 
sprinkling of college men and young fellows of wealth 
and social position, was commanded by Colonel Leon- 
ard Wood and Lieut. -Colonel Theodore Roosevelt. 
The former had been a surgeon in the regular army 
with military training in Western campaigns on the 
plains. The latter was one of the best known young 
men in the Republic; famous for his courageous hon- 
esty in poHtics and for his patriotic energy in civil 
administration. He had resigned the position of 
Assistant Secretary of the Navy to organize this 



THE ATTACK ON SANTIAGO 95 

The Battle at Guasimas Intrepid Fighting 

unique regiment under the command of his friend 
Colonel Wood. 

The Rough Riders had left their horses in Florida 
because of the difKiculty of transportation and the lack 
of open ground in Cuba. As they were threading 
their way on foot over the hills, their trail joined that 
of the regulars at the place called Guasimas. There 
they received a sudden volley from the enemy con- 
cealed in the thick glades, but they held their ground 
and returned the fire. They were unable to see their 
foes, whose smokeless powder gave no trace of their 
location ; but through the tall grass and brush they 
steadily pushed on in the face of the dropping death, 
firing with calm precision. One after another of the 
Riders dropped dead or grievously wounded, but these 
young men, who had never been under fire, no more 
thought of turning back than a college team at a foot- 
ball game. Their colonels handled carbines like the 
men and were at every point in the line which they 
had deployed through the brush. 

Soon they were joined by the colored regulars, and 
then they fought on together. Between the Rough 
Riders and the regulars engaged there were about one 
thousand men, and they were fighting four thousand 
Spaniards. 

The wounded that could walk were urged to go to 
the rear, but most of them refused ; and, sitting at the 
foot of the trees, continued their deadly marksman- 
ship at any sign of the Spanish. When there was an 
opening in the glades the men crouched and crawled 

6 



96 THE RESCUE OF CUBA 



Strangeness of the Battle Pushing Still Forward 

toward the enemy ; when there was a little protection 
of trees, they dashed forward, firing as they went. 
The Spaniards did not understand this kind of fight- 
ing. According to their rules, after such murderous 
volleys as they had poured into the Americans, their 
enemy should have fallen back. Instead of this, as 
one of the Spanish prisoners said: " They kept push- 
ing forward as if they were going to take us with their 
hands." 

After two hours of this fighting, under the unfalter- 
ing advance and accurate fire of the Americans, the 
Spanish volleys became less frequent and effective. 
Then the Spaniards broke and ran. When the battle 
was over, the American soldiers had lost sixteen killed 
and fifty-two wounded, but they were two miles nearer 
Santiago than when they met their first fire. 

It had been a strange battle, and one that appealed 
peculiarly to the patriotic pride of the American peo- 
ple. On that day, college men and the bronzed men 
of the plains, millionaires and negroes, all were stand- 
ing upon the common level of American citizenship, 
true brothers in devotion to duty; and there were no 
differences in courage or manliness. 

El Caney 

The Spaniards seemed to have a curious notion of 
the Americans as fighters; they thought that after a 
sharp resistance they would draw back, and that on the 
next morning they would be gone. Instead, the 



THE ATTACK ON SANTIAGO 97 

Formidable Obstacles Problem of General Shafter 

Americans were nearer to Santiago on each succeeding 
day of their exhausting cHmbing. Slowly and surely 
the lines drew up around the city. The Spanish gar- 
rison numbered some thirteen thousand men, amply 
supplied with ammunition, behind trenches and barbed- 
wire fences which were so well arranged as to excite 
the admiration of our engineers. 

The country around was filled with Spanish soldiers. 
Everyone knew that the heaviest work was yet to be 
done. The American troops, however, had a more 
dreaded enemy than the Spaniards. The intolerable 
heat, the soaking rains, the piercing night chills, the 
lack of proper food, and, above all, the miasma of the 
ground were daily preying upon the vitality of the sol- 
diers who had come so robust and hardy from their 
American camps. 

It was feared that an epidemic of yellow fever or 
typhoid fever was at hand. It certainly was. What 
was to be done must evidently be done quickly. 
Moreover, the whole army had a natural ambition to 
see the Stars and Stripes floating over Santiago by the 
Fourth of July. 

Around and above Santiago was an open plateau. 
Here the dense and tangled thickets and the mountain 
trails ended. The problem before General Shafter 
was to close around Santiago and capture it before 
General Linares with his thirteen thousand soldiers 
could escape, and before General Pando, marching from 
the north, could throw in his reinforcement of eight 
thousand men. 



98 THE RESCUE OF CUBA 

Topography of Santiago El Caney and San Juan 

The city of Santiago is so located, at the head of its 
long harbor, that a complete line of investiture would 
stretch from the seacoast on the east to a point near 
the head of the harbor on the west of the city— a line 
which resembled a huge fishhook. At the northern 
end of this line, where the shank of the hook begins to 
turn into the curve, and about four miles northeast 
from Santiago, is the suburb of El Caney; one mile 
east is San Juan. 

The hills of El Caney and San Juan each slope rather 
sharply to the eastward, the direction from which our 
troops were coming. Between the foot of these ridges 
and the woods is open country. To march across this 
open is dif^cult because of gulleys, winding streams, 
thick grass, and low bush. 

The suburb of El Caney nestles on the hillsides, 
and here the rich Santiagoans had built country resi- 
dences. On the top of San Juan were farmhouses. 
The Spanish engineers had perceived how ugly these 
bluffs might be made to an invading army, and had 
transformed the farmhouses and country seats into 
forts, with ramparts of broken stone and bags of sand, 
and with loopholes made in the walls. 

Each hill was also crowned by a blockhouse fort. 
Indeed, a score of these little forts, which had pre- 
viously proved so effectual against the Indian-like 
attacks of the Cubans, stretched along the command- 
ing ridges outside of Santiago. 

In addition, on the face of the eastern ridge there 
were admirably constructed lines of rifle-pits, and be- 



THE ATTACK ON SANTIAGO 99 

Network of Fortifications Siege-Guns or Fever? 

low these were interminable barbed-wire fences, which 
were the clever invention of General Weyler for re- 
tarding any daring enemy who might have the temerity 
to charge across the deadly open and up the hills. 

If the reader has been able to make a mental picture 
from this brief description he will comprehend the 
grave problem before the American generals. In the 
lines on lines of trenches and inside the little forts 
were desperate defenders, with terrible rapid-firing 
Mauser rifles, which, if scientifically used, might sweep 
from the earth any body of troops advancing across 
the mile or more of clear country. In view of this 
kind of advantage, common military prudence would 
seem to dictate that no charge be made against these 
defenses until they had been pulverized by artillery. 

But, on the other hand, because of the impossible 
roads, General Shafter could not bring up his siege- 
guns; indeed, these powerful pieces were never landed 
from the transports. It had taken days to get even 
the light batteries of Captains Capron and Grimes over 
the dozen miles from the landing-place to a position in 
front of the bluffs of El Caney and San Juan. General 
Shafter reasoned that the risk of attacking these posi- 
tions with infantry only partially supported by artillery 
was less than the danger of fever under the exhausting 
conditions of the climate. The result seemed to justify 
this reasoning. 

A general advance along the whole length of the 
American line was begun in the afternoon of the 30th 
of June. General Lawton's division was to attack El 



100 THE RESCUE OF CUBA 

Plan for the Assault First Gun at El Caney 

Caney. General Kent's division, with General Wheel- 
er's division of dismounted cavalry, was to move against 
San Juan. General Dufheld's brigade was to proceed 
against Aguadores, which was on the seacoast south 
of San Juan and a little east of Morro Castle. 

With General Lawton, for the attack on El Caney, 
was Captain Capron's battery; and for the attack on 
San Juan, Captain Grimes's battery had been assigned. 
On the morning of the 1st of July, General Lawton 's 
division was in the shape of a half-circle around El 
Caney. At five o'clock in the morning the advance 
on the town was commenced. It was said by some 
that there would be little resistance and that the town 
would be taken before breakfast. As the troops got 
nearer to the enemy's trenches the knowing ones en- 
joined silence lest the Spaniards should hear them and 
run away. Before the day was out there were many 
times when these same knowing ones wished that the 
Spaniards would run away. 

Before the sun had appeared above the high moun- 
tain peaks behind them, the cannoneers had taken 
their places and trained their four pieces on the stone 
fort which was perched on the apex of the hill of El 
Caney. At sunrise the Spanish flag was run up its 
staff, and immediately the American guns opened fire. 
At first our shells brought no answer, but soon the 
Spanish artillery began to drop their shells into our 
lines with an unexpected accuracy, while from the 
trenches and the loopholes of the stone fort and of 
the fortified houses the infantry poured at our position 



THE ATTACK ON SANTIAGO 101 

Murderous Fire on Both Sides Steadiness of the American Troops 

a sweeping and effective fire. The rifle bullets seemed 
to come in sheets, like horizontal rain ; and upon our 
soldiers lying on the ground the grass-tops clipped by 
the bullets fell like leaves. 

But from the American lines the incessant stream of 
Krag-Jorgensen bullets, as well as the artillery, was 
doing terrible destruction. The Spaniards had the 
better position and stronger defenses; but the Ameri- 
cans had the coolness and a vastly superior accuracy of 
aim. Our soldiers fired as deliberately as at a marks- 
manship contest ; wherever a Spanish straw hat was 
seen above the trenches, or an ofificer exposed himself, 
there was a target for a dozen rifles; before that scien- 
tific aiming each loophole in the blockhouse became a 
point of fatal exposure. 

But instead of ending before breakfast the battle 
lasted all day. Our men were dying on every side. 
One journalist who was with the command counted 
twenty-five dead in an hour. The ofificers advised and 
steadied the men, who were no less heroic than them- 
selves; yet many ofificers disdained to crouch as they 
compelled their men to do, and, as conspicuous targets, 
were dropping in large numbers. 

For most of these soldiers it was their first battle; 
yet there was no evidence of panic, nor was there a 
single act of cowardice observed. The foreign military 
attaches who were present were astounded at the steadi- 
ness of these soldiers, who were receiving their first 
baptism of fire. Among the wounded there was no 
complaint at the necessary delay of attention ; under 



102 THE RESCUE OF CUBA 

The Creeping Advance Under Deadly Fire 

the broiling sun they waited patiently and almost with- 
out a groan until they could be removed. 

All the morning and long into the afternoon the 
creeping advance continued. The smokeless powder of 
the Spaniards often made their fire bewildering. The 
storm of bullets came from new directions, and when 
it was discovered that the bodies of the men were be- 
ing hit on a different side, the masked batteries and 
trenches had to be first coolly located and then silenced. 

The Spanish sharpshooters penetrated between our 
regiments, hid themselves among the trees, and fired 
upon the wounded as they were staggering to the rear. 
When this was discovered our men were beside them- 
selves with rage. But the regulars only moved forward 
a few feet farther and aimed their Krag-Jorgensens 
with more dogged determination. 

Thus, until the middle of the afternoon, the very slow 
advance went on ; the dark blue shirts writhed forward 
from bush to bush, and yard by yard shortened the 
distance ; sometimes little dashes were made from one 
poor protection to another, but every one of these short 
rushes was a deadly adventure. It was a battle under 
new conditions. The long distance and rapid fire of 
the new rifle would have annihilated one of those old- 
fashioned line-of-battle charges which were made in 
the Civil War. 

Finally, at half-past three, the town which was to 
have been taken before breakfast seemed to be as 
bristling and unsubdued as ever. The time had at last 
come for a desperate charge. The broken and bushy 




The Charge at El Caney, July I, 1S9S. 



THE ATTACK ON SANTIAGO 103 

Final and Desperate Charge Heroism of the Soldiers 

ground had been crossed, and our men were facing the 
very trenches. The order was passed down the Hne 
for a general rush. With a roaring cheer the regiments 
leaped to their feet and dashed at the hill. They did 
not go in ranks — scarcely in companies. It was a race 
to reach the trenches and to swarm around the fort. 

Captain Haskell, of the Twelfth Infantry, was con- 
spicuous in the rush ; his long white beard streaming 
back like the plume of Henry of Navarre. Officers 
and men dropped down in appalling numbers in the 
gusts of death. But no force was able to check that 
charge. Prying down the barbed-wire fences, cheering 
with that thunderous yell which only Americans can 
give, they closed over the trenches, which were found 
filled with dead men. In a moment more the blue 
uniforms were seen around the fortifications on the 
hilltop ; the barricaded doors were broken in and holes 
were made in the roofs. 

But the Spaniards had finished their fight. The 
barricaded streets of El Caney offered little resistance. 
A few shots more, and the town was in the hands of 
the exhausted but jubilant Americans. 

Superb in this charge were the colored soldiers of the 
Twenty-fourth Regiment. At Guasimas colored troops 
had saved the Rough Riders; at El Caney they fought 
with no less heroism. The officers of our regular army 
say that no better soldiers ever wore a uniform, and 
prisoners taken from the fort at El Caney insisted that 
the colored troops were nine feet tall and could strangle 
them with their fists. 



104 THE RESCUE OF CUBA 

Capture of El Caney Spanish Tribute to American Gallantry 

At half-past four the American troops had posses- 
sion of the town. They found the Spanish dead lying 
in lines in the blockhouse behind the loopholes from 
which they had fired. The dead were in the streets 
and in the houses. The trenches were open graves. 
When the little fort was broken into, only one Spanish 
ofificer and four men were alive out of the entire 
garrison. 

The forces on the opposing sides had been about 
equal. Had the Spaniards been as skillful with their 
arms as the Americans, the result might have been 
longer delayed, and perhaps there might have been 
another result altogether. But the Spanish were 
proud and daring men, and they made the most stub- 
born resistance that Americans have ever met from a 
foreign foe. 

If the Americans appreciated the dogged courage of 
the Spaniards, the enemy was amazed at the invincible 
gallantry of the invaders. One of the surviving Span- 
ish ofificers has told the story of the battle, and in it 
he said : 

" The enemy's fire was incessant, and we answered 
with equal rapidity. I have never seen anything to 
equal the courage and dash of those Americans, who, 
stripped to the waist, offering their naked breasts to 
our murderous fire, literally threw themselves on our 
trenches, on the very muzzles of our guns. 

Our execution must have been terrible. We had 
the advantage of our position and mowed them down 
by hundreds, but they never retreated or fell back an 



THE ATTACK ON SANTIAGO ' 105 

The Losses at El Caney Battle at San Juan Begun 

inch. As one man fell, shot through the heart, an- 
other would take his place with grim determination 
and unflinching devotion to duty in every line of his 
face. 

" Their gallantry was heroic. We wondered at 
these men, who fought like lions and fell like men 
courting a wholesale massacre, which could well have 
been avoided had they only kept up their firing with- 
out storming our trenches." 

The number of Spanish dead is unknown. But 
three hundred and seventy-seven American soldiers 
were killed and wounded. They were martyrs in the 
cause of humanity ; they fell, not for the mere purpose 
of capturing an insignificant Spanish village, but to 
make a people who were their neighbors free. 

After taking El Caney the American outposts were 
at once pushed forward beyond the town and also 
within rifle-shot of the intrenchments of San Juan. 

San Juan 

While the battle of El Caney was going on, the 
troops there engaged could hear the roar of the guns 
of El Poso, which had opened on San Juan on their 
left, about three miles south. 

El Poso is a hill about a mile and a half from the 
hill of San Juan. The plan of the commander-in-chief 
was that General Lawton, who took El Caney on the 
1st of July, should finish that work early in the morn- 
ing; that then his troops should push south to San 



106 THE RESCUE OF CUBA 

Disarrangement of Plans Situation of San Juan 

Juan, join with the troops of Generals Sumner and 
Kent, and spend the night in front of San Juan. The 
next morning the entire force was to attack San Juan 
un both sides. 

This plan was never carried out. General Lawton 
did not finish capturing El Caney until the end of the 
afternoon. But meantime the American forces in 
front of San Juan could not endure being shot to 
pieces by the Spaniards, and so went forward to cap- 
ture San Juan without the aid of the troops from El 
Caney. 

The hill of San Juan is just outside of the city of 
Santiago directly to the east. Looked at on its eastern 
side it seems like a sharp bluff. On top of the hill was 
a low farmhouse with broad eaves. This had been 
turned into a fortification by the Spanish, as had also 
a long shed near by. East of this farmhouse, near the 
edge of the hill, were long rows of Spanish trenches; 
back of the farmhouse, towards Santiago, was a slight 
dip in the ground, and on the rise towards the city were 
more trenches. Barbed-wire fences were everywhere. 

Looking eastward from the bluff of San Juan hill is 
a meadow one third of a mile in width, before you get 
to the brush and trees of the forest. This meadow, in 
the main, is a tangle of high grass, broken by scattered 
trees and barbed-wire fences. A little way to the 
northeast from San Juan is a shallow duck-pond, and 
just beyond this water is a low hill which, from its 
great sugar kettles on top, our men called Kettle Hill. 
Beyond the roUing meadow are the woods, broken by 



THE ATTACK ON SANTIAGO 107 

March through Narrow Trail Sharpshooters in Trees 

swift winding streams ; through this timber come the 
irregular, mountainous trails from Siboney, along which 
the troops had toiled, and on either side of which they 
had bivouacked for several days. 

General Shafter, from his headquarters two or three 
miles distant from the edge of the forest, had ordered 
the troops of the First Division, under General Kent, 
which was to attack San Juan, to march forward 
all at once through this narrow trail and form in line 
of battle as they emerged at the edge of the woods. 
The road in some places was a hundred feet broad, in 
others it was not more than ten ; practically it was 
no wider anywhere than at its narrowest part, and as 
the troops entered the road from their bivouacs there 
was an almost instant jam. While thus crowded 
they found themselves under fire without knowing 
whence the bullets came. It was at last discovered 
that the tree-tops concealed large numbers of Spanish 
sharpshooters. Several companies of colored troops 
were at once ordered into a thicket to bring down 
these sharpshooters without quarter. After a time 
the marching crowd was thus partially relieved of its 
hidden enemies; but the troops, as they neared the 
edge of the woods, came within the fire of both the 
Spanish artillery and rifles, and men began to fall 
rapidly. The confusion of the narrow road was be- 
wildering; two brigades were marching side by side 
and became hopelessly intermingled. Orders were 
issued and countermanded; and sometimes the rever- 
sal of an order reached an officer before the order itself. 



108 THE RESCUE OF CUBA 

The War Balloon Troops Placed in Deadly Position 

The war balloon, which had been at the head of the 
troops, had served the Spanish as a fatal index of our 
location, and was the cause of much of the early- 
slaughter of the day. Before it came down, however, 
it had discovered a fork in the road to the left, which 
led to the open meadow. Through this fork a portion 
of the troops was at once hurried. 

But the Spaniards well knew the points where the 
two roads emerged into the open meadow, and those 
spots were pens of death. 

Thus the morning hours wore on, seemingly without 
end. From the high hill of El Poso, Captain Grimes's 
battery began firing early in the morning at the trenches 
and the fortified farmhouse. But its old-fashioned 
powder enveloped it in smoke after each discharge, 
and it was at least a minute before a second aim could 
be taken, while its cloud of smoke made it a conspicu- 
ous target for the Spaniards; therefore it soon ceased 
firing and took a new position nearer the enemy. 

There was a steady march of wounded men towards 
the rear; motionless dead were everywhere. Fainting 
under the heat of the sun and in the suffocation of 
the tall grass on the sides of the road, men were at the 
extremity of their endurance, with lolling tongues and 
staring eyes. 

At last endurance was no longer possible. There 
were no general orders to advance, for the brigade 
commanders knew that they had been ordered into 
this position, and they had received no orders from 
headquarters to get out of it. 



TEE ATTACK ON SANTIAGO 109 

The Charge without Orders The Irresistible Rush 

Then the colonels and captains took the matter into 
their own hands. Somehow, about noon a forward 
movement began. Conspicuous among the leaders 
were General Hawkins and Colonel Roosevelt. Sol- 
diers fell in behind any officers who would lead. 
Lieutenant Ord, who fell dead at the top of the hill, 
shouted as he started, " All who are brave, follow 
me." Each officer rallied all the men he could reach. 

There was little regard for regimental formation, 
but in groups the heroes plunged forward. They did 
not run fast, for the grass was too thick and the ob- 
stacles too sharp ; yet they panted forward through the 
tall grass, through the morass, and up the steep hill, 
aiding one another and pulling themselves up by the 
bushes. 

Those who beheld from the hill of El Poso believed 
the desperate soldiers would be destroyed to a man. 
That they were not swept out of existence in the face 
of that torrent of incessant fire seems a miracle. But 
they reserved their own fire until they were so close 
to the trenches that they could see the whites of their 
enemies' eyes, and then they aimed with such accu- 
racy that in a few moments there was not a living 
Spaniard in the intrenchments. 

Then they rushed against the blockhouse; presently 
that fortification ceased to spit its fire, its garrison was 
dead, and the Stars and Stripes were waving over its 
spreading roof. 

The Spanish commander-in-chief, General Linares, 
had fallen wounded, and the few surviving defenders 



110 THE RESCUE OF CUBA 

No Such Battle Before The Individual Soldier 

of San Juan were running towards Santiago. It was 
estimated that seventy per cent, of the Spanish in the 
trenches and the blockhouse had fallen. 

No such battle had American troops ever fought be- 
fore. The positions they had taken were, from a mili- 
tary point of view, invincible; yet they had taken 
them almost with bare hands. It was not a battle 
where strategy had won ; generalship had seemed to 
fall to pieces; it was the unconquerable nerve of the 
individual soldier which had triumphed. 

When the hilltop was carried, and the flag waved 
over the blockhouse, the afternoon was half gone. 
Since daylight the troops had been exposed to the 
most terrible fire ever experienced on this hemisphere. 
They were fainting under a tropical sun ; they were 
weak from hunger and thirst; they knew that their 
generals were practically helpless. 

Then, when they found that they were left to them- 
selves, because they were Americans they did not 
stampede to the rear, but made that immortal charge. 
This was the battle of San Juan. 

While the battles of El Caney and San Juan were 
being fought, on that same ist of July the Third 
Division of General Shafter's army was attacking the 
base of Morro Castle near Aguadores. The fleet was 
expected to cooperate in this attack. The Spaniards, 
however, dynamited the long trestle-bridge across 
which General Duffield's troops were expected to 
march; and under the sweeping fire of the enemy it 
proved impossible to make the attack. 



THE ATTACK ON SANTIAGO 111 

The Terrible Cost of Victory Holding the Position 

When night fell on the ist of July the American 
army had won two victories. But the cost had been 
terrible. Two hundred and thirty men had been 
killed, and twelve hundred and eighty-four were 
wounded. Many were missing. In other words, out 
of the attacking forces at El Caney and San Juan, 
every sixth man had fallen. The remainder had been 
strained to the utmost, and their commanders realized 
that the next worst thing to a crushing defeat was a 
costly victory. 

The next day, when General Shafter gathered in the 
reports, he was deeply depressed, and considered the 
advisability of falling back. Other counsels prevailed, 
however. Oflficers and men who heard of it resented 
the suggestion, and the thin line held its own. 

All night long, after the battles, the tired men worked 
industriously in building intrenchments on the other 
side of San Juan, anticipating that the Spaniards would 
attempt to retake it. Now and then there was some 
fighting through the night, but at no time was there 
any serious danger of losing the ridge. 

The next morning the Spaniards began firing at day- 
light and the battle raged all day with more or less 
fury. The losses were considerable, and the suffering 
of the troops was great, but the advantage gained was 
securely held. The day was occupied by our artillery 
in securing good positions to shell the city. At ten 
o'clock the next night a serious attack was made upon 
the American line with the purpose of breaking 
through, but it was effectually repulsed. The third 



112 THE RESCUE OF CUBA 

Demand for Surrender Hope of Capturing Spanish Fleet 

day (Sunday) there was some firing, but not with much 
spirit. On the morning of that day General Shafter 
demanded the surrender of Santiago, The demand 
was not compHed with, but the American army was 
content to rest a Httle, recover from the shock of 
battle, and gather up its strength. 

As a fact, this gallant army was so seriously crippled 
by its losses as to make the task of taking the city of 
Santiago, against fortifications and intrenchments, and 
with a great fleet of Spanish cruisers lying in the bay, 
an exceedingly difificult and dangerous one, — indeed, 
almost an impossible one. Our fleet guarding the 
mouth of the bay was restrained from entering because 
of the submarine mines with which the bay was filled. 
There was not a man on the ships who would not have 
cheered the order to do so, but the Government was 
unwilling to risk the loss of our battleships. 

That was not all. The Government did not want to 
destroy the Spanish vessels so much as to capture 
them. The objective point of the campaign was to 
take Santiago with its garrison, and with it the Spanish 
fleet. From the beginning the orders had been to 
capture rather than destroy the fleet. This made the 
task of the army indeed grave. The most experienced 
officers say that it would have cost at least five thou- 
sand men to force the inner fortifications and take the 
city. On that fateful Sunday morning, the little army 
of Americans, with this great work before them, with 
enemies on every side, two thirds of them mere boys 
of the college age, did not number ten thousand effect- 



THE ATTACK ON SANTIAGO 113 



Holding on in the Trenches News of the Escaping Fleet 

ive men. The only thing to be done was to keep 
what they had gained, get rest, and hold on for rein- 
forcements. Their weakened state was of course not 
known by the enemy, and when they so boldly de- 
manded the surrender of the city, the Spanish were 
too concerned over their own losses to build hopes on 
the weakness of the American army. 

That Sunday afternoon General Chaffee, riding along 
the front of his brigade, said to Col. O'Brien and 
Major Brush of the Seventeenth Infantry: "Gentle- 
men, we have lost all we came for; the game has 
flown; the Spanish fleet is forty miles away on the 
high seas." 



114 THE RESCUE OF CUBA 

A Fateful Hour The Waiting Fleet 

CHAPTER VIII 

Destruction of Cervera s Fleet 

INDEED, that Sunday morning (the 3rd of July, 1898) 
was a fateful hour in the history of the world's con- 
test for freedom. While the army behind the city of 
Santiago held the ground they had gained at such cost, 
and waited for the next onset knowing how serious it 
must be, the battleships and cruisers in Admiral Samp- 
son's squadron were riding at the mouth of Santiago 
Bay, — waiting, waiting, and hoping for the moment 
when the trying routine of watching would be dropped 
for the roar and dash of a great naval engagement. 

There was the armored cruiser Brooklyn, capable of 
twenty-one knots an hour, with Commodore Schley, 
the second oflficer in the squadron, on board — the same 
Schley who years before took out of the Arctic snows 
the dying survivors of the Greely Expedition and 
brought them home. There was the first-class battle- 
ship Oregon, fresh from her long journey of fifteen 
thousand miles from Puget Sound, around Cape Horn, 
and her sister ship the Indiana, both with their 
eighteen-inch walls of steel and thirteen-inch guns 
which throw a projectile five miles. Every charge in 
these guns requires more than five hundred pounds of 
powder ; every shell weighs more than half a ton ; and 



DESTRUCTION OF CERVERA'S FLEET 115 

The Commander Absent Sunday Inspection 

every discharge, at the pressure of an electric button, 
costs five hundred and sixty dollars. There was the 
battleship Texas, called a " hoodoo " because of her 
many misfortunes, but now to become famous for her 
brilliant work. There was also the battleship Iowa 
with " Fighting Bob " Evans in command. In the 
neighborhood was the battleship Massachusetts, as 
well as other cruisers, torpedo boats, and ocean-liners 
and pleasure yachts converted into ships of war. 

The commander of the fleet, Rear-Admiral Samp«^ 
son, was absent for the first time in many weeks. 
Under the orders of President McKinley and knowing 
the extremity in which the army was placed he had 
steamed a few miles east with the flagship New York 
to confer with General Shafter, and if possible afford 
relief. He had repeatedly said, " If I go away some- 
thing will happen." 

This morning was not unlike most of the others 
during the five weeks of waiting. The sun was hot 
and the water calm. The ships drifted about in the 
deep waters and occasionally steamed up to keep their 
positions. As it was Sunday, at nine o'clock the men 
were rigged in clean white suits ready for inspection 
and for religious service. Everyone looked forward to 
another day of tedious watching. 

At about half-past nine, just as the bugle sounded 
for service upon the Texas, the navigator on the for- 
ward bridge of the Brooklyn called out through his 
megaphone: "After bridge there! Report to the 
Commodore and the captain that the enemy's ships are 



116 THE RESCUE OF CUBA 

The Alarm The Rally 

coming out." At the same instant the boom of a gun 
on the Iowa attracted attention and a string of Httle 
flags up her rigging signaled: " The enemy's ships 
are escaping to the westward." 

In an instant, on every vessel, all was commotion 
where a moment before there had been perfect order. 
But even the excitement showed absolute system, for 
with a rush every man in all the crews was in his place 
for battle, every vessel was moving up, and every gun 
was ready for action. From the first warning of the 
lookout to the boom of the guns it was less than three 
minutes. 

The New York was just ready to land Rear-Admiral 
Sampson at a point seven miles east of Morro Castle. 
In twenty minutes he would have been riding over the 
hills to the headquarters of the army. But the leap of 
the ships was seen and the flagship was instantly put 
about and started under highest steam for the fray, 
while all on board wondered at the cruel fate which 
had made it necessary for her and the commander to 
be away on that particular morning. 

The increasing clouds of black smoke in the bay 
showed beyond doubt that at last the enemy's fleet had 
started upon a grand and desperate dash for liberty. 
Directly, the Spanish flagship, the Maria Teresa, 
thrust her nose out of the opening and was followed 
by the other armored cruisers, the Vizcaya, Cristobal 
Colon, and Almirante Oquendo, and the torpedo-boat 
destroyers, Pluton and Furor. The vessels were from 
eight hundred to twelve hundred yards apart and oc- 



^ 

'^^ 







On t^'-. Deck of the Gloucester, July 3, 189S. 



DESTRUCTION OF CERVERA'S FLEET 117 

The Spaniards Dash Out The Opening Fire 

cupied from twelve to fifteen minutes in passing the 
cape at the mouth of the harbor. As they did so they 
turned to the west, most of the American ships being 
just then a Httle to the east of the entrance. 

As the Spanish cruisers came in range they opened 
their batteries upon the Americans, but continued to 
fly to the westward with all the speed they could make. 
The two torpedo craft made directly for the Brooklyn, 
intending to score a point in the chase by destroying 
the American vessel having the greatest speed. As the 
American ships closed up, the shore batteries on both 
sides of the opening began a heavy fire upon them. 

The guns of the American fleet opened with terrific 
effect at the first moment of opportunity. The Brook- 
lyn realized in an instant that it was to be a chase and 
that she was to lead it. She steamed at the Spanish 
flagship and at the Vizcaya at full speed. She had 
been a rival of the Vizcaya at Queen Victoria's Jubilee 
the year before. She turned a complete circle so as to 
use all of her batteries to advantage. The Iowa and 
the Texas rained their great shells upon the enemy with 
fearful effect. 

The little converted yacht Gloucester, under Lieuten- 
ant Commander Richard Wainwright, a former officer 
of the Maine, comprehended that it was her business to 
take care of the torpedo boats, and appeared to imagine 
that she was a battleship instead of an unprotected pleas- 
ure yacht. She ran in at close range, sometimes being 
completely hidden by smoke, and worked her small, 
rapid-firing guns accurately and with deadly results. 



118 THE RESCUE OF CUBA 

Wainwright " Remembers the Maine" Torpedo Boats Destroyed 

The Gloucester received orders by signal to get out 
of danger, but Wainwright said the signal seemed to 
him to order him to close in. This commander had a 
terrible score to settle because of the Maine. From 
the night of her destruction he had been grimly await- 
ing his opportunity. Now that his chance had come, 
he fought his little yacht with a fury that bewildered 
the Spaniards and amazed the American fleet. 

He explained that he was afraid he might strain his 
guns if he used them at long range ! so he got as close 
to the enemy as he could, firing at the big ships as well 
as the torpedo craft. His fire was so rapid and exact 
that the enemy were not able even to launch their 
torpedoes; one torpedo squad after another being 
swept away before they could load their tubes. 

Hardly had the battle opened before one of the 
largest guns sent a shell through the Pluton which 
practically broke her in two. The Furor tried to seek 
refuge behind the cruisers, but the Gloucester ran in 
and out and riddled her with an unerring fire which 
reached her vitals and sent her plunging towards the 
shore, to break upon a reef and go down under the 
rolling surf. Some of her crew were helped upon 
the gallant little vessel which had destroyed her. Out 
of one hundred and forty men on the two vessels but 
twenty-four survived. 

In fifteen minutes the Maria Teresa and the Oquendo 
were on fire. At a quarter-past ten the former of these 
was completely disabled, gave up the fight, and ran 
on the shore at a point about six and a half miles from 



DESTRUCTION OF CERVERA'S FLEET 119 

Three Great Warships on Fire and Aground Gentleness to Prisoners 

the harbor, and in another quarter of an hour the other 
did the same thing a half-mile farther on. One had 
been hit thirty-three and the other sixty-six times. 

The Vizcaya, in three-quarters of an hour more, 
struck her colors and turned to the shore fifteen miles 
from the harbor. 

These vessels were pierced by our shells in many 
places; they were burning, and their guns and ammu- 
nition bursting, with the likelihood that their maga- 
zines would explode at any moment. As the only 
resort in the last extremity, they were run on the beach, 
where they sank and careened over on their sides. 
Hundreds of their crews were dead and wounded and 
many more jumped into the heavy sea to save them- 
selves. 

The American boats went quickly to their rescue. 
As the Texas passed one of the stranded vessels her 
men started a cheer, but Captain Philip, with fine 
chivalry, told them not to cheer when other brave 
men were dying. The Iowa and the Ericsson took off 
the crew of the Vizcaya, and the Gloucester and the 
Harvard those of the Maria Teresa and the Oquendo. 
Lieutenant-Commander Wainwright received Admiral 
Cervera at his gangway and made the defeated Spanish 
officer as comfortable as possible. The men helped 
the Spaniards from the water and at great risk went 
aboard their vessels to carry off the wounded. No 
trouble or danger was too great to stand in the way of 
giving help and comfort to the men who had been 
conquered. 



120 THE RESCUE OF CUBA 

The Colon's Race for Life The Chase by the Brooklyn and Oregon 

In the meantime, while her sister ships were being 
destroyed, the Cristobal Colon had pushed on out of 
the thickest of the fire, and was hoping to escape. She 
was their best and fastest vessel. When the Vizcaya 
went ashore, fifteen miles from the start, the fleetness 
of the Colon had put her ahead of the rest about six 
miles. As soon as the fate of the Vizcaya was as- 
sured, the Iowa and the Indiana were directed to 
return to the blockading station, and the Brooklyn, the 
Oregon, the Texas, and the Vixen started on the great 
race for the Colon. 

It was a wonderful race. The high speed of the 
Brooklyn enabled her to lead the way. But the Oregon 
showed that she had speed as well as great guns. Her 
chief engineer had for weeks saved some choice Cardiff 
coal for just such an emergency, and now it was piled 
upon the fires with signal effect. The grimy heroes 
under the decks won the race that day. In the boiler- 
rooms the heat was almost insufferable, ranging from 
one hundred and twenty to one hundred and fifty de- 
grees, Fahrenheit. The men fainted often and had to 
be lifted to the deck where the fresh air could revive 
them. But there was no flinching or complaint. Fre- 
quently the stokers insisted upon working overtime. 
No one of them in the pit was less intense or less a 
hero than the captain on the bridge. Once, during the 
chase, when some of the firemen had fainted, the en- 
gineer called to the captain, " If my men can hear a 
few guns they will revive." 

The Colon hugged the coast for the purpose of land- 



DESTRUCTION OF CERVERA'S FLEET 121 

Gaining on the Colon The Colon Sinks 

ing if she could not escape. The pursuers struck a line 
for a projecting headland. There was no firing for a long 
distance and the crews watched the great race from the 
decks. The Brooklyn and the Oregon gradually drew 
away from the others and gained upon the Spaniard. 
Their smoke almost hid them from view at times, but 
when in sight the onrushing cruiser and battleship 
made a spectacle more magnificent than most of us 
will ever see. 

The Colon fired a shot at her pursuers now and then, 
but each fell wide of the mark. When Commodore 
Schley was told by the navigator that the distance be- 
tween the Colon and the Oregon was but eight thou- 
sand five hundred yards, or five miles, he signaled to 
the battleship to try a thirteen-inch shell upon her. 
Instantly it whistled over the head of the Brooklyn 
and fell but little short of the Colon. A second one 
struck beyond her. A few shots were then fired by 
both of the American vessels. At twenty minutes 
after one o'clock the Colon struck her colors and ran 
ashore forty-two miles from the entrance to Santiago 
harbor. The Spanish crew scuttled and left her sink- 
ing. The Brooklyn and the Oregon soon came up and 
Captain Cook of the former went aboard and received 
her surrender. Soon the noble vessel sank in deep 
water, but was pushed upon the beach by the New 
York, which had arrived. The next day only a small 
part of the stern of the ship remained above the water. 

All the living men upon the stranded fleet, about 
sixteen hundred of them, were taken prisoners. The 



122 THE RESCUE OF CUBA 



The Losses of Life Victory of Skill and Discipline 



Spanish Admiral and most of the prominent officers 
were among the number. All were treated with the 
utmost kindness, and the wounded received every pos- 
sible aid, far more than they would have had if they 
had not been captured. 

The Spaniards had four hundred killed. The charred 
remains found upon their burning ships told too plainly 
how dreadfully they had suffered. The Americans lost 
but one man. George H. Ellis, a yeoman, assisting on 
the bridge of the Brooklyn, was asked by Captain Cook 
to give him the distance to the Vizcaya. He stepped 
into the open, took the observation, answered, 
" Twenty-two hundred yards, sir," and fell at the 
captain's feet, for a shell had taken off his head. 

The naval battle at Santiago, even more completely 
than that at Manila, showed the decisive superiority of 
scientific training over haphazard methods of warfare. 
The Spanish vessels and their armament at Santiago 
were superior to those at Manila, but the hardy, trained 
men who worked the American ships and the expert 
gunners who sighted the American guns gave their ad- 
versaries no chance in either battle. 

The great victory opened the gates of Santiago and 
saved thousands of lives in the thinned little army 
which in its three days' fighting had almost gained ad- 
mission. Aside from the spell it cast upon the world as 
an unsurpassed and perfect feat of warfare, this sea- 
fight was understood at once to be a most significant 
event in the history of the United States and in the 
progress of republican institutions- 



DESTRUCTION OF CERVERA'S FLEET 123 

Thanksgiving Triumph of Justice 

There were but few who were so thoughtless as not 
to be stirred with the feehng which possessed the heart 
of Captain Philip and the crew of the battleship Texas 
when, as they stood on the deck with uncovered heads 
and reverent souls on the afternoon of the engagement, 
the knightly old sailor said: " I want to make public 
acknowledgment here that I believe in God, the Father 
Almighty. I want all you ofificers and men to lift your 
hats and from your hearts offer silent thanks to the 
Almighty for the victory he has given us." That was 
the spirit which pervaded all the crews. Captain Evans 
wrote: " Every drop of blood in my body was giving 
thanks." 

But it was not the mere victory over a foe that 
caused this general and thoughtful lifting of heart ; it 
was exultation at the triumph of justice and the prog- 
ress of freedom. 



124 THE RESCUE OF CUBA 



The Army's Anxiety News on the Fourth of July 



CHAPTER IX 

The Winning of Cuba and 
Puerto Rico 

The Surrender of Santiago 

THE army did not know until the next day after 
the occurrence that the Spanish fleet, which their 
advance had forced out of the harbor, had been utterly 
destroyed. The momentous news was carried by dis- 
patch boat and telegraph to all parts of the world and 
was being celebrated throughout the United States, 
and indeed by Americans in nearly all of the capitals 
of Europe, before the gallant army upon the hills 
around Santiago could know about it. 

The report received on Sunday that the enemy's 
fleet had successfully escaped was naturally a hard dis- 
appointment to the army of American boys in the wet 
trenches: one in six of them had been either killed or 
wounded ; many more were already stricken with the 
dreaded fevers; and for a time it seemed as if with all 
their sacrifices and victories the chief object of the 
campaign had been lost. But the following day, the 
4th of July, the true story passed along the lines, and 
the national anniversary was celebrated on the Santiago 



THE WINNING OF CUBA AND PUERTO RICO 125 



Changed Feelings in Both Armies Parleying about Surrender 

hills with such cheers and with such loving appreciation 
of "The Star-Spangled Banner" as these boys had 
never imagined before. 

The destruction of the fleet changed the feeling in 
the Spanish as well as in the American army. It not 
only took away a great force which had been rehed 
upon for protection, but made it clear that before many 
days the American battleships, mines or no mines, 
would enter the harbor, and that, between the assault- 
ing army and the navy, the garrison and the city would, 
if necessary, be destroyed together. 

In both camps there was now a new meaning to the 
demand for surrender. On the one side it was no 
longer made as a pretense to divert the soldiers' 
thoughts and to hide the crippled condition of the 
army, but it was pressed with the confidence that it 
must quickly be complied with ; and on the other side 
it was now faced as inescapable. 

The Spanish commander-in-chief. General Linares, 
was too seriously wounded to remain in command, 
but the next officer, General Toral, refused to yield 
to the demand for surrender. The truce, however, 
was maintained, at the earnest request of the foreign 
consuls in the city, in order to give the women and 
children time to escape before the assault should be 
renewed. 

In the meantime the parleying about the surrender 
was continued, and the general oflficers of both armies 
held meetings under a tree between the lines. On our 
side there was a strong desire to avoid further blood- 



126 THE RESCUE OF CUBA 

Sufferings of the Troops American Reinforcements 

shed, and this desire seemed to be reciprocated by the 
Spanish. 

But the army at large was not in possession of the 
secrets of the Commanders, and the passing days were 
filled with suffering among the wounded and sick as 
well as anxiety among all. The hardships were in- 
creasing; the daily rains made the trenches where the 
men were lying rivers of water; under the strain, the 
unbearable heat and the rains by day and the chill of 
the nights, the men's vitality grew low and disease 
was disabling more than half the army. To make it 
worse, the supply departments had apparently broken 
down ; food was scarce and poor, medical supplies were 
exhausted. There was deep concern among the sol- 
diers; it seemed only a matter of days before there 
would be no army except in the hospitals ; and yet 
there was constant expectation of orders for a new 
assault. 

As the days of parley after parley between the gen- 
erals passed, the troops continued to intrench upon the 
ridge, although the ordinary tools for digging trenches 
were sadly lacking, and bayonets and tin cans had to 
do duty for picks and shovels. Artillery was brought 
up and put in the best positions. Finally, several 
regiments of new troops, fresh from home, arrived. 
General Nelson A. Miles, the commanding general of 
the army, came, and his presence gave new confid- 
ence. Each night the regimental bands along the line 
played " The Star-Spangled Banner/' and then every 
man stood, facing the flag in silence, with uncovered 



THE WINNING OF CUBA AND PUERTO RICO 127 
Generous Terms Offered Capitulation at Hand 

head. These were noble moments ; the most unthink- 
ing became reverent and thoughtful as all realized the 
enormous responsibility to their homes and country 
which this strange situation had put upon those 
thinning ranks; they knew that they were there for 
the extension of the free institutions which the flag 
represented. 

On the 9th and loth of July, as the demand for sur- 
render was still not complied with, there was some 
artillery fire upon the city, but it was not very severe ; 
the city could not run away; its fate was settled. 
There was a strong desire to make the capture without 
destroying it or sacrificing more lives. Generous terms 
were offered to the Spanish. They were told they 
might retain their personal property and march out 
with honors. Finally it was agreed to send them to 
Spain. It was cheaper to do that than to guard and 
feed them here. It hastened the end, for the Spanish 
troops had suffered bitterly and were longing to go 
home. 

On the 14th of July, General Wheeler, who was 
conducting the negotiations on the American side, on 
behalf of General Shafter, gave the soldiers definite 
intimations that a surrender was close at hand. Then 
General Miles, with his staff, left for Puerto Rico, that 
he might not seem to rob General Shafter of his due 
or take to himself any honors which his own fighting 
had not won. On the morning of the 17th, aides rode 
along the lines and invited the commanders of divisions 
and brigades, with their staffs, to repair to the head- 

8 



128 THE RESCUE OF CUBA 

The Ceremony of Capitulation Appearance of Both Armies 

quarters of the commanding general and witness the 
surrender of the Spanish forces. 

Soon, from the general headquarters, a company of 
generals with their staffs and orderlies, numbering per- 
haps two hundred in all, and a couple of troops of 
cavalry swung into the main road leading to Santiago. 
They appeared as they had appeared from the day of 
the landing, except that the tropical sun had deepened 
their tan, and the experiences of battle had marked 
deep lines upon their faces. Their rough uniforms bore 
the stains of service and of conflict. There was no 
effort at display in this American cavalcade. They 
were plain, hardy, earnest men, bent upon results, who 
cared nothing for show until the results were made 
secure. There was little exultation, for they were 
soldiers who were able to respect the desperate valor 
of the defense they had overcome. 

Coming upon the field where the formal ceremony 
of surrender was to occur. General Toral, with his 
staff, rode forward to greet them, saluted, shook hands 
with courtesy, introduced strangers to each other, and 
then escorted the American officers down the Spanish 
lines. Polite, complimentary, even congratulatory 
words were spoken on both sides. The Spanish offi- 
cers appeared in uniforms that were bright with gold 
braid, and they wore across their breasts the medals 
and decorations they had won. The Spanish soldiers 
were at their best. Even in the hour of defeat there 
were smiles and salutations. At this most trying time 
the Spaniards did not fail to show both the pride and 



THE WINNING OF CUBA AND PUERTO RICO 129 

23,000 I-ay Down Arms Entering the City 

the fine air of politeness which are so characteristic of 
the Latin races. 

Then the mixed group of general officers took posi- 
tion, and the Spanish regiments began marching past 
with their arms and equipments, deposited them at a 
designated place, and marched back again without 
them. The number doing this, with those who soon 
after came in from the surrounding country to sur- 
render, was about twenty-three thousand. After a 
small portion of the enemy had laid down their arms, 
the American officers, accompanied by the Ninth In- 
fantry and a squadron of the Second Cavalry, rode 
on into the city to take possession and to raise the 

flag. 

Along the way there were the evidences of hasty 
retreat and of the horrors of war. Quickly made and 
shallow graves were numerous. Dead horses with 
saddles and bridles yet upon them were frequent. 
Destruction and wretchedness were visible on every 
side. 

The company entered the city between long lines of 
troops still bearing arms, and multitudes of people. 
They were not unkindly, and appeared to enjoy a sur- 
render better than an assault. Doubtless the appear- 
ance was an honest representation of the general feeling, 
for the citizens were glad to see the power of Spain 
vanish ; the Spanish officials must have been convinced 
that subjugation of Cuba was impossible and that re- 
sisting the United States was hopeless ; and the Span- 
ish soldiers were more than willing to get out of a 



130 THE RESCUE OF CUBA 

Raising the Flag over the Palace The Cheers from the Trenches 

conflict in which they never had much heart, and to 
see the prospect of getting home once more. 

To the people, the coming of the American army 
meant food and security. A strong curiosity was 
clearly evident on each side to see what sort of people 
were on the other side, and this grew as the armies 
afterward mingled with each other. 

Reaching the Plaza, or public square, the general 
officers were shown into the audience hall of the 
palace and received ceremoniously by the Spanish 
commander. 

At noon the officers returned to the square, the 
troops presented arms, and as the clock pointed the 
hour of twelve. Captain McKittrick, of General Shafter's 
staff, raised " Old Glory " over the palace. The regi- 
mental band played " The Star-Spangled Banner," 
and a national salute of twenty-one guns announced 
to the army in the trenches on the hilltops, two miles 
away, and to the navy at the watery gateway of the 
city, that the flag was floating over Santiago in sign of 
the victory which they had together won. Those 
guns boomed a solemn declaration that henceforth 
government by the people must supplant the cupid- 
ity and the cruelty of Spanish rule in the Western 
Hemisphere. 

The Capture of Puerto Rico 

No sooner was the surrender of Santiago assured, 
than General Nelson A. Miles, the commanding officer 



THE WINNING OF CUBA AND PUERTO RICO 131 

Expedition to Puerto Rico Surprise by General Miles 

of the Army of the United States, departed from Cuba 
with a few regiments of regulars and volunteers to 
take possession of the island of Puerto Rico. 

This expedition had been long deferred in order that 
all danger from the Spanish warships, now destroyed, 
might be avoided. It was generally felt in the United 
States that, since Cuba was to have independence, 
Puerto Rico must be seized as partial indemnity for our 
enormous expenditures of money in prosecuting the 
war. Rear- Admiral Sampson, on the I2th of May, 
had spent a few hours in bombarding San Juan, the 
capital of the island, with a view of ascertaining the 
strength of its defenses, but had withdrawn his fleet 
to Cuba, since the military expedition for Puerto Rico 
was not at that time ready, and also because Admiral 
Cervera's fleet, for which he was searching, was yet on 
the seas and must be destroyed. 

When General Miles's expedition started it was ex- 
pected by the public, the newspapers, and even by the 
Government, that he would land on the north coast 
and make a short march to San Juan along the line of 
a well equipped railroad. But General Miles kept his 
counsels secret, and, to the surprise of everyone, even 
of the keen-scented newspaper dispatch boats, he sud- 
denly, on the 28th of July, landed at Ponce, on the 
southern coast. He found some vessels of the Ameri- 
can navy already there. They had, a few days before, 
captured Guanica at the southeastern end of the island, 
and had then sailed eastward a short distance to the 
city of Ponce, which was now in their power. The 



132 THE RESCUE OF CUBA 

Welcome in Puerto Rico Proclamation by General Miles 

formal surrender, however, was made to General Miles 
when he entered at the head of his troops. 

The people of Puerto Rico received the Americans 
with open-armed hospitality. The Spanish rule had 
been as deeply hated in Puerto Rico as in Cuba, but 
as the people were of a less revolutionary temper, the 
fire of insurrection had not swept the island. They 
had, however, been expecting the American forces, 
and were prepared to greet them with warm friendli- 
ness and to give hearty allegiance to the flag of the 
great Republic of freedom. 

Upon taking possession of the city, General Miles 
issued a proclamation in which he said : 

"In the prosecution of the war against the kingdom 
of Spain by the people of the United States, for the 
sake of liberty, justice, and humanity, its military 
forces have come to occupy the island of Puerto Rico. 
They come bearing the banners of freedom, inspired 
by noble purposes, to seek the enemies of our Govern- 
ment, and yours, and to destroy or capture all in 
armed resistance. 

" The chief object of the American military forces 
will be to overthrow the armed authority of Spain and 
give the people of your beautiful island the largest 
measure of hberty consistent with this military occu- 
pation. 

" They have not come to make war upon the people 
of the country, who for centuries have been oppressed, 
but on the contrary to bring protection to yourselves 
and your property, to promote your prosperity, and to 



THE WINNING OF CUBA AND PUERTO RICO 133 



Release of Prisoners A Joyous Campaign 



bestow the immunities and blessings of our enlightened 
institutions and liberal government. This is not a 
war of devastation, but one to give all within the con- 
trol of the military and naval forces of the United 
States the advantages and blessings of enlightened 
civilization." 

The prisoners held by the Spaniards for political 
offenses were released. One who had cut the telegraph 
leading to the capital on the preceding night, in order 
to prevent the Spaniards from sending for reinforce- 
ments, was being led out by them to be shot just as the 
American ships entered the harbor. His captors de- 
parted with haste and left him a free man under a new 
flag. Then the regiments from Massachusetts, Penn- 
sylvania, Illinois, and Wisconsin soon began patrolling 
the city and scouting through hiding-places in quest of 
lurking Spaniards. 

The city of Ponce had enjoyed considerable pros- 
perity, and many of the people were intelligent and 
well-to-do. They extended their hospitahty to the 
American officers, and the troops found themselves 
greeted with smiles and cheers at every turn. 

Homes were opened and Puerto Rican dainties were 
pressed upon the soldiers in the streets. At the first 
concert given by an American band in the Plaza the 
enthusiasm of the people at the new music resembled 
the enthusiasm with which, at home, the playing of 
patriotic music had been received when the soldiers 
were going to the front. It seemed as though the 
campaign was destined to be a huge picnic; certainly 



134 THE RESCUE OF CUBA 



Strategy of General Miles News of Peace 

never before had a people manifested such joy and 
good-will at being conquered. 

General Miles, however, did not relax his careful 
strategy and discipline. Though the Spanish troops 
had retired from Ponce, he knew they were massing 
toward San Juan, and were preparing for stubborn re- 
sistance. There were excellent roads from Ponce to 
San Juan, and along them were a number of strongly 
garrisoned towns. Notwithstanding the fact that the 
usual conditions seemed to be reversed, and the de- 
fenders instead of the invaders seemed to be in the 
enemy's country. General Miles arranged his advance 
on San Juan Avith the most painstaking skill. The 
army was to advance in three divisions along three 
different roads; careful reconnoissances were con- 
tinually made, and no chances were taken. 

But as the troops advanced, the Spanish withdrew 
after some desultory fighting in which they met with 
some losses, and a few were killed and wounded on 
the American side. A sharp little battle was fought 
at Coamo, where a detachment of the enemy surren- 
dered after a desperate struggle in which most of their 
officers were killed. The Spanish army made a de- 
cisive stand on the 13th of August. General Brooke 
drew up his troops for an overwhelming attack. But 
just as the American General was about to give the 
order to the artillerymen to open fire upon the Spanish 
lines. Lieutenant Maclaughlin dashed up on a foaming 
horse with a dispatch from headquarters that the pre- 
liminaries of peace had been made and that no more 



THE WINNING OF CUBA AND PUERTO RICO 135 

Feelings of the Soldiers End of the Fighting 

fighting was to be done. This order, at the beginning 
of what seemed to be an exceptionally brilliant and 
skillful campaign, was received with varying emotions 
by our soldiers. Some were disappointed that they 
would not have the opportunity to emulate the valor 
of their comrades in Cuba; but more shared in the 
gratification of the American people that bloodshed 
was at an end. When the news of the truce reached 
the Spanish lines their soldiers were seen to dance for 
joy. 

This was the end of the fighting with Spain in the 
West Indies. Our troops settled down in their camps 
among the friendly Puerto Ricans to await orders 
which should call them home, while the Commis- 
sioners appointed by the two contending Governments 
soon arranged for the evacuation of the island by the 
Spanish, whose robberies and cruel oppression had for 
so many centuries made the Spanish flag and uniform 
abhorrent. 



136 THE RESCUE OF CUBA 



Need of Troops for Manila Dewey's Long Waiting 



CHAPTER X 

Fall of Manila and the Suit for 
Peace 

WHILE the gallant troops of the East under Gen- 
eral Miles were capturing Puerto Rico, and 
while the veterans of the Santiago battles were recover- 
ing from the terrible rigors of that campaign, another 
army, composed chiefly of Western regiments, together 
with some seasoned regiments of the regular army, was 
preparing to take possession of the Philippine Islands. 
It was on the ist of May that Commodore Dewey 
had fought his battle and destroyed the Spanish naval 
power in the Pacific. But though he remained master 
of Manila Bay, the city and suburbs of Manila, with 
their three hundred thousand inhabitants, the great 
island of Luzon in which it was situated, and the 
other islands of the Philippine group, were still occu- 
pied by the Spaniards. Dewey had no trouble in 
maintaining his position in the harbor, and could at 
any time have captured the city of Manila if he had 
deemed it expedient. He preferred to postpone the 
capture of the city until the arrival of the American 
army of occupation. So he cut the cable from the 
island to Hong-Kong and made his sailors as comfort- 
able as possible while waiting for reinforcements. 



FALL OF MANILA AND THE SUIT FOR PEACE 137 

Preparing the Philippine Expedition Soldiers of an Empire? 

He was, however, recognized by the warships of 
the great powers which visited the bay as having full 
control, and the Spaniards in the city knew that they 
were at his mercy. 

During the month of May a military expedition for 
the Philippines began to gather at San Francisco. 
Major-General Wesley Merritt, one of the most dis- 
tinguished and able officers of the army, was put in 
command. While there was every reason for haste in 
starting the expedition on its thirty days' voyage 
across the seven thousand miles of the Pacific Ocean, 
General Merritt was too sensible an officer to send off 
his troops without a fully adequate equipment. Sup- 
plies of every kind, horses, mules, rations, fodder, 
clothing and blankets, medical supplies, in addition 
to arms and munitions of all kinds, had to be gathered 
at the Golden Gate. Many of these supplies came 
from the far East. Weeks were consumed in getting 
together the needful equipment. But as fast as a de- 
tachment was ready it was started on its adventurous 
voyage. 

It was the first time in our history as a nation that 
our soldiers were sent over such an enormous distance. 
It began to seem to some people that these departing 
soldiers of the Republic might possibly be the first 
soldiers of an American empire, which, like Great 
Britain, would reach its arms to the other side of the 
world. Peculiar interest, therefore, attached to every 
departing ship as it pushed its way over the western 
horizon. The friends of the troops, moreover, real- 



138 THE RESCUE OF CUBA 

Voyage of the Expedition The Native Insurgents 

ized that their soldier boys were to be separated from 
home by an entirely different kind of gulf from that 
which lay between the United States and Cuba and 
Puerto Rico. Unknown perils, as well as a new kind 
of struggle in an unknown empire, were known to be 
lying ahead. 

The voyage of the several detachments of the Philip- 
pine expedition was accomplished without accident. 
Hawaii was in the course of the transports bearing 
the troops, and the inhabitants of those islands, which 
had just been annexed by act of Congress, as they 
extended their welcome to our soldiers, were impressed 
with the power of the nation under whose flag the 
Hawaiian Islands had just come. 

During July some eight thousand American soldiers 
arrived in Manila Bay, and General Merritt determined 
that these would be sufficient for the assault upon the 
Spanish fortifications and the capture of the city 
behind them. 

The Spanish troops outnumbered the Americans, 
and, to add to the difficulty of the situation, there was 
encamped outside of Manila a large army of native in- 
surgents under the command of General Aguinaldo. 

These insurgent troops had been fighting the Span- 
iards ever since Dewey's victory and had driven them 
into their fortifications around the city. Aguinaldo's 
soldiers were not our allies, though fighting a com- 
mon foe ; and what their attitude would be was an 
open and perplexing question both to General Merritt 
and to the Government at Washington. The people 



FALL OF MANILA AND THE SUIT FOR PEACE 139 

Aguinaldo The Delicate Problem 

of the Philippines had suffered as cruelly at the hands 
of the Spaniards as had the people of Cuba, and had 
been engaged in a desperate revolution against their 
oppressors. This revolution had been suppressed 
about a year before the breaking out of our war with 
Spain. But at the signal of Dewey's expedition 
against the Spanish fleet at Manila, Aguinaldo, a 
young, shrewd, and ambitious chief, assisted by Dewey, 
had organized the revolt anew; and now with a large 
army of natives, flushed with the fall of their enemy 
before American arms, he was a factor not to be 
forgotten. 

The United States Government, however, did not 
feel itself warranted in undertaking the liberation of 
the Philippines and giving the control to the native 
population, who were ignorant, undisciplined, and 
as yet altogether unfit for self-government. Indeed a 
government of the islands by the Filipinos would be 
almost certain to be more oppressive and mistaken 
than by the Spaniards themselves. Consequently our 
commanders were debarred from making common 
cause with Aguinaldo. Yet, since he had with him 
at that time the sympathies of many of the natives, 
it was necessary to avoid, as much as possible, com- 
plications which might result in a conflict between his 
forces and the Americans. 

Under these conditions, to conquer the Spanish 
army and to shoulder aside or ignore the insurgent 
army without engaging it in battle, constituted a prob- 
lem which required diplomacy as well as generalship. 



140 THE RESCUE OF CUBA 

General Merritt's Diplomacy Attack on Manila Arranged 

But difficult as the task was, General Merritt and his 
officers were equal to its solution. 

General Merritt treated Aguinaldo not as an enemy, 
yet with unmistakable firmness. The American General 
did not seek the help of the insurgent leader, for he 
was unwilling to be under obligations to men who 
would naturally demand the right to sack the city and 
who would more than likely be jealous of the army 
which should take possession of it. 

Some embarrassment was experienced by reason of 
the fact that Aguinaldo's forces, numbering several 
thousand men, occupied the ground between the land- 
ing-place of the American troops and Manila; but 
when General Merritt sent a request that they should 
get out of the way, they thought it well to do so, and 
thus gave the Americans open roads to the city. 

Without waiting for the balance of the twenty thou- 
sand troops which were still on their way from San 
Francisco, General Merritt, by the end of July, began 
preparations to advance upon the city. On the night 
of the 31st of July the brigade of General F. V. Greene 
was thrown forward. It met with a sharp resistance 
from both the Spanish infantry and artillery, but held 
its ground valiantly. 

On the 6th of August General Merritt and Rear- 
Admiral Dewey joined in a letter to the Spanish Cap- 
tain-General notifying him to remove the women and 
children and the sick from the city within forty-eight 
hours, and that an attack was liable to be made at any 
moment after that time. Three days later a formal 



FALL OF MANILA AND THE SUIT FOR PEACE 141 
Infantry to Attack Order for Assault 

demand was made for the surrender of the city, which 
was met with a request for time and permission to send 
a boat to Hong-Kong, six hundred and forty miles dis- 
tant, to cable the Spanish Government. This was 
refused, and it was decided to take the city four days 
later. 

The seacoast batteries of the Spaniards were so 
situated as to make it impossible for our navy to en- 
gage them without firing into the city, and as the non- 
combatants had not been removed, it was desired, in 
the interest of humanity, to avoid this. So the duty 
of the assault fell largely upon the infantry of the 
army. It was necessarily delayed a day or two longer 
than intended, but was made according to programme 
on the 13th of August. 

After days of inaction, during which the troops were 
encamped upon swampy ground under pouring rains, 
and had begun to think they would never see the in- 
side of Manila, there came, on the 12th of August, the 
general order of advance. The troops were to move 
up into the trenches at half-past six the next morning, 
— the First Brigade, under General McArthur, on the 
right, and the Second Brigade, under General Greene, 
on the left and down the beach ; the combined attack 
by sea and land was to take place on Saturday the 13th 
of August, at ten A.M. 

The troops received the order with rejoicing. But 
as they eagerly pulled themselves out of the marshes, 
to fall in for the assault, there was no excitement ; the 
volunteers were as cool as the regulars. 



142 THE RESCUE OF CUBA 

The Gallant Charge The White Flag 

As the troops floundered on through the marsh and 
the rain, the Utah Battery opened fire from its em- 
brasures on the fort, San Antonio. At the same time 
the fleet commenced firing with its big shells, and 
with its barking rapid-fire guns from the military tops, 
upon the Spanish fortifications. At a given signal, a 
little later, the batteries and the fleet ceased firing, for 
the infantry to make an assault. A company of Colo- 
rado volunteers had the honor of making the first ad- 
vance at the fort. When they arrived, before it was 
destroyed, Lieutenant McCoy pulled down the flag of 
Spain and sent up the Stars and Stripes. 

Back of the fort lay the town of Malate, protected 
by breastworks and sand-bags. Our soldiers pushed 
on over the second line of intrenchments. Here they 
met a sharp fire and a number fell. During the ad- 
vance there were many deeds of splendid gallantry. 
One of these was when, in response to a call for volun- 
teers to dislodge the enemy from a stubborn stand, the 
men of the Astor Battery of New York volunteered 
their services, and charged upon the Mauser rifles, 
armed only with revolvers. It was an unequal and 
desperate chance, but they were supported by rein- 
forcements and the Spanish fled. 

The walled city of Manila was now in sight and a 
white flag was seen. Two ofificers, representing the 
army and the navy, were sent in to negotiate the terms 
of surrender. There was the usual Spanish bickering, 
but finally General Greene rode in and received the 
surrender of the Captain-General, while our volunteers 




American Volunteers Entering Manila, August 13, i8g8. 



FALL OF MANILA AND THE SUIT FOR PEACE 143 



Insurgents Shouldered Back General Merritt's Tribute to his Troops 

marched triumphant through the streets and raised 
the new colors above the ancient Spanish city. 

Meantime the insurgents, who had been running 
along by a parallel road with our advance, began to 
jostle their way into the city with the idea of loot. 
They were, however, sternly held back, and, though 
they had forced their way into our lines, were driven 
out, to their bitter disappointment. 

The capital of the Philippines was now in the hands 
of the United States. The resistance, though sharp, 
had been but feeble in comparison with what it might 
have been. The Spanish were glad to surrender, but 
they did not dare to return home without making at 
least a show of resistance. They recognized the hope- 
lessness of further struggle against the North American 
race, and, though amply provided with ammunition 
and provisions, they were glad to have the struggle 
over. 

Well might General Merritt, a splendid and modest 
soldier, close his report of the movement by saying: 

I submit that for troops to enter under fire a tov/n 
covering a wide area, to rapidly deploy and guard all 
principal points in the extensive suburbs, to keep out 
the insurgent forces pressing for admission, to quietly 
disarm an army of Spaniards, more than equal in 
numbers to the American troops, and, finally, by all this 
to prevent entirely all rapine, pillage, and disorder, and 
gain entire and complete possession of a city of three 
hundred thousand people, filled with natives hostile to 
American interests and stirred up by the knowledge 



144 THE RESCUE OF CUBA 

A Foothold Gained Spain Sues for Peace 

that their own people were fighting in the outside 
trenches, — was an act which only the law-abiding, tem- 
perate, resolute American soldier, well and skillfully 
handled by his regimental and brigade commanders, 
could accomplish." 

The taking of the capital of the Philippines was ac- 
complished after the preliminary terms of peace had 
been accepted by the contending Governments, but 
before the instructions to cease hostilities could reach 
the American ofificers. Fortunately it was done with- 
out much bloodshed, but it would have been done at 
the appointed time no matter whether the loss was 
little or much. It gave the United States a real foot- 
hold on the other side of the world, and imposed upon 
the Republic unprecedented responsibiUties, for it 
opened a door through which the American nation 
was constrained to pass, and to attempt to carry its 
power, its spirit, and its institutions into the affairs of 
the Oriental peoples. 

Before the end of July (on the 25th) the French 
Ambassador at Washington called at the White House 
and stated to President McKinley and the Secretary 
of State that he was requested by the Government of 
Spain to say that " Spain has been worsted and that 
her sufferings, as a result, are very great, and, there- 
fore, she asks to be furnished with a statement of the 
terms upon which the United States would be willing 
to make peace." 

This was all that could be desired. It meant peace 



FALL OF MANILA AND THE SUIT FOR PEACE 145 
Diplomacy Protocol of Peace 

and it sent a thrill of jubilant satisfaction throughout 
the country. 

Some days were necessarily consumed in discussing 
details. There were exchanges of notes and of visits 
between the diplomats, and the European cables con- 
veyed new questions and instructions daily. By the 
I2th of August the demands of the United States had 
been formulated and accepted by Spain in the follow- 
ing language : 

" I. That Spain shall relinquish all claim of sover- 
eignty over and title to Cuba. 

2. That Puerto Rico and other Spanish islands in 
the West Indies, and an island in the Ladrones, to be 
selected by the United States, shall be ceded to the 
latter. 

3. That the United States shall occupy and hold 
the city, bay, and harbor of Manila pending the 
conclusion of a treaty of peace, which shall deter- 
mine the control, disposition, and government of the 
Philippines. 

" 4. That Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the other Spanish 
islands in the West Indies shall be immediately evacu- 
ated, and that Commissioners, to be appointed within 
ten days, shall, within thirty days from the signing 
of the Protocol, meet at Havana and San Juan, re- 
spectively, to arrange and execute the details of the 
evacuation. 

"5. That the United States and Spain shall each 
appoint not more than five Commissioners to negotiate 
and conclude a treaty of peace. The Commissioners 



146 THE RESCUE OF CUBA 

Proclaiming Hostilities at an End Commission of Peace 

are to meet at Paris not later than the first day of 
October. 

" 6. On the signing of the Protocol hostilities shall 
be suspended and notice to that effect shall be given as 
soon as possible by each Government to the command- 
ers of its military and naval forces," 

On the same day President McKinley issued a proc- 
lamation declaring hostilities at an end. Upon the 
instant messages were sent by wire, and then by dis- 
patch boats over the seas, to the navy, and by military 
couriers over the mountains to the army, that they 
should stay the iron hand of war. Directly Commis- 
sioners were appointed to adjust the details of the 
evacuation of Cuba and Puerto Rico by the Spanish 
armies, and other Commissioners to meet the Spanish 
representatives in Paris in order to negotiate and agree 
upon the terms of a general and permanent peace. 



SPIRIT OF AMERICAN SOLDIERS AND SAILORS 147 



Impulse of the People Popular Support of the War 



CHAPTER XI 

The Spirit of American Soldiers 
and Sailors 

IT was love of freedom and compassion for the op- 
pressed which impelled the United States to make 
war upon Spain for the liberation of the Cubans. The 
American people were in advance of their Government 
in this impulse. It was but right that the Government 
should hesitate and wait for the clear manifestation of 
the will of the people before taking a step so momen- 
tous and so unprecedented. But history will accord 
to the people the just credit for moving to such a 
generous and true-hearted undertaking by a common 
impulse. 

The response to the call of the Government for men 
and money for the prosecution of the war was as prompt 
as the popular impulse was enthusiastic. The Presi- 
dent called for two hundred thousand men, and nearly 
a million offered themselves. A popular loan of two 
hundred millions of dollars was asked for, and more 
than fourteen hundred millions were offered. 

What is of no less account, wherever the soldiers and 
sailors of the United States went, they carried the 
spirit and the self-control of their people with them. 
They were worthy representatives of a republic where 



148 THE RESCUE OF CUBA 

Insurgents' Desire to Pillage Americans Protect their Defeated Foes 

the people govern themselves, and they exemplified the 
virtue and the heroism of the Anglo-Saxon race.y 

In all their history the Spaniards have followed their 
conquests with pillage and outrages. Their soldiers 
have had license to plunder houses and rob and mal- 
treat their prisoners. Even in later times the Spanish 
soldier has calculated upon this permission, which has 
been accorded as a spur to greater daring in battle. 

The Cubans and the Filipinos who were fighting 
Spain expected a somewhat similar license for them- 
selves if they gained the victory in their wars for inde- 
pendence. It is not strange, for they are for the most 
part an uneducated and almost an uncivilized people ; 
they are but Spaniards themselves by origin, and have 
been trained in the thought, traditions, and practices 
of the Spanish nation. So when Santiago and Manila 
were taken, the army of the United States was obliged 
to use strategy and force to protect their own enemies, 
the Spaniards, and their property from such terrible 
outrages as they themselves have many times inflicted 
upon conquered cities. 

General Shafter and General Merritt, in order to 
make certain that no wrong should be done, refused 
to permit the native soldiers to enter the cities which 
the Americans had taken. The insurgents were very 
angry at this; there were some fears that their dis- 
appointment and rage might even lead them to resist 
by force, and that before we were through we might 
have both sides to fight ; but they were told to see in 
the firmness of the Americans the beginnings of justice 



SPIRIT OF AMERICAN SOLDIERS AND SAILORS 149 
Americans Establish Order and Cleanliness 

as well as power. The United States was in their 
islands in the name of human liberty, and her troops 
were abundantly able to afford security and protection 
in the territory they had conquered. 

In Cuba, affairs began to move in the usual ways, or 
indeed in much better than the usual ways, very soon. 
Civil government was reestablished, business was re- 
sumed, the mails and the newspapers were started 
again ; better still, the officers of the United States 
looked to the care of the sick, to the cleaning of the 
towns, and to the opening of schools. When Santiago 
was captured it was unspeakably filthy; it always had 
been notorious for its extreme dirtiness. General 
Wood immediately organized hundreds of hungry 
Cubans into a cleansing army; and in a few weeks 
Santiago passed to the other extreme of being, for a 
time at least, the cleanest city in the world. In 
Manila, it is said, the street cars were running and 
ladies were down street shopping in an hour after the 
American troops were in possession of the city. Some 
of the nations of Europe might wonder at this quick 
restoration of order; but to an American it was only 
natural to see American boys affording protection to 
the weak and representing the orderliness of their 
people, as well as the blessings of liberty, at their 
entrance upon foreign soil. 

The treatment of prisoners was only what we knew 
it would be, yet the kindness and the generosity of 
it appeal to the pride and warm the heart of every 
American. 



150 THE RESCUE OF CUBA 

Succor to Wounded Foes at Cavite and El Caney 

When Commodore Dewey destroyed the Spanish 
fleet in Manila Bay, the telegraph cable to Hong-Kong 
was cut before the reports of the battle were finished, 
so that the world was left for several days in some 
doubt as to the result. What information did come 
by wire was through Spanish officials. The last word 
received was that " the Americans had landed at Cavite 
to bury their dead." This led to the fear that the 
American vessels had met with a heavy loss. In fact 
they had met with no loss. They did land to bury 
the dead, but it was the Spanish dead. They also 
landed to give succor to the Spanish sick and wounded. 
The Spaniards seemed powerless to do what was neces- 
sary and were doubtless in fear of the insurgents. 
While our men were thus engaged there was a very 
singular occurrence. 

When the party landed from the American fleet they 
were met by a procession of priests who came to pre- 
sent a humble prayer. It was that the Americans 
would " spare the sick and wounded." It was sup- 
posed that the sailors who were so heroic in battle had 
come to slay their fallen adversaries and pillage their 
possessions, when they had really come on an errand 
of mercy. How little they understood the American 
people, their feelings, and their ways! 

When the desperate assault of the American troops 
at El Caney had finally triumphed, three young Span- 
iards were found in the blockhouse which through the 
long and terrible day had been one of the main targets 
of the American fire. Wounded, and exhausted by 



SPIRIT OF AMERICAN SOLDIERS AND SAILORS 151 
Chivalry to Prisoners Desire for Dangerous Service 

the intense heat and the want of food and drink, they 
were taken in pity to the quarters of General Chaffee 
for refreshment. When a lieutenant of the Seventeenth 
Infantry asked them if they would not have a drink of 
water he was amazed at the answer. The Spanish 
corporal said : " No, why should we drink when we are 
about to die ? " They had misconstrued the kind- 
ness, and expected to receive the treatment they would 
have been ready to give to the Americans if the cir- 
cumstances had been reversed and if there had been 
anything to gain by it. The American lieutenant had 
no need to wait for instructions as to the reply he 
should make. He knew that every citizen of the 
United States would say as he did: " You are not to 
die; we are civilized men and you are brave ones; we 
have beaten you in a just cause, now we will help you." 
The heroic bravery of American soldiers in the face 
of danger has come to be known all over the world. 
It shines through every page of the history of our war- 
fare. Upon the sea and upon the land, in the Colonial 
wars, in the Revolution, in the Second War with Great 
Britain, in the Mexican War, and particularly in the 
Civil War, Americans demonstrated that they were 
willing to take any chances and would fight to the 
death. In the war against Spain, the sterling heroism, 
the brilliant intrepidity of the Americans seemed more 
marked than ever before ; the deep desire for an op- 
portunity to risk his life in the cause seemed to have 
taken possession of nearly every man in the service. 
The place of greatest danger was the place earnestly 



152 THE RESCUE OF CUBA 

Inspiration in Intrepid Example Dewey as an Instance 

pleaded for by almost every man in the army and 
the navy. Where such was the common spirit, when 
all were alike eager, it seems unjust to make distinc- 
tion by naming individual heroes. Yet there were 
certain great deeds which deserve to be recounted, not 
so much to praise those who performed them, as 
because they were typical and to inspire other Ameri- 
cans to offer no less for their country and for humanity. 

Admiral George Dewey, a Vermont boy, grew up 
in the navy. Though recognized as an efficient naval 
officer there seemed nothing very unusual about him. 
But the opportunity came to him to perform a great 
act of world-wide importance, and he had the fiber 
in him to seize it and make the most of it. In 
taking an American fleet, at night, into the close 
harbor of a city of three hundred thousand people, 
on the other side of the world, a harbor which he had 
never seen before and which was protected by sub- 
marine mines and shore batteries, and in which there 
was a fleet of enemy's vessels outnumbering his own, 
he performed an act of the highest personal gallantry. 
In utterly destroying that fleet and bringing that city 
to subjection he brought a distinguishing glory to the 
American navy, for it was a deed unprecedented in 
warfare upon the seas, and one which will live as long 
as history is written. 

After the war broke out the War Department found 
it necessary to communicate with the leaders of the 



SPIRIT OF AMERICAN SOLDIERS AND SAILORS 153 
A Mission to Gomez Lieutenant Rowan Assigned 

Cuban insurrection. It was imperative to arrange for 
military cooperation. They were in the heart of Cuba, 
going from place to place in the mountains and in the 
forest, and could only be reached by a special messen- 
ger traveling hundreds of miles through an enemy's 
country. Such a mission called for rare judgment, in- 
volving immense hardship, and the capture of such a 
messenger would result in his certain death. 

Lieutenant Andrew S. Rowan of the War Depart- 
ment was made happy beyond measure by being per- 
mitted to undertake the dangerous work. He went 
from New York by steamer to Kingston on the south 
shore of the island of Jamaica and there awaited in- 
structions by cable from Washington. These he got 
on the 23rd of April, and started immediately across 
country to carry the news to the Cuban leaders and 
fulfill his even more important mission. He traveled 
seventy-five miles across this island in a northwesterly 
direction to the sea; crossed over to the Cuban shore, 
a distance of a hundred miles, in a small sailboat, 
avoiding all manner of Spanish craft ; thence threaded 
his way another hundred miles through the thickets, 
guided by Cuban officers, sleeping in the brush, living 
on sweet potatoes and water from the green cocoanuts, 
until in the very midst of the jungle he reached the 
headquarters of the Cuban commander-in-chief. 

It was the same day upon which Dewey destroyed 
the fleet at Manila. It was noon, and first he was 
given breakfast. Then the two men worked together 
until dark. In the meantime Lieutenant Rowan had 



154 THE RESCUE OF CUBA 

Rowan's Danger Commended for Cool Daring 

given what information he had and secured what 
there was to get. He left upon his return an hour 
after nightfall. He carried papers upon his person, 
both in going and in returning. He had not been 
engaged in corrupting an officer of the enemy or in 
furthering the designs of a traitor, but aside from this 
was in precisely the same situation that Major Andr6 
was when arrested by American soldiers in the Revolu- 
tion. If taken he would have met the same fate, prob- 
ably without trial and with less deliberation. He had 
to travel more than another hundred miles before reach- 
ing the northern coast of Cuba. Here he secured a row- 
boat from Cuban sympathizers. A sail was made from 
hammock canopies, and food was gathered from the 
forests. 

In this frail craft he started at night, with five 
Cubans, over the treacherous southern seas, for Nassau 
in the Bahamas, a distance of two hundred miles or 
more. In time he gained his port, soon got a steamer 
for Key West, and hastened by the first train to 
Washington to deliver his report and papers to the 
commanding general of the army. General Miles im- 
mediately wrote a letter to the Secretary of War 
saying: "Lieutenant Rowan performed an act of 
heroism and cool daring that has rarely been excelled 
in the annals of warfare," and recommended that he 
be promoted to the position of lieutenant-colonel. 

When the Spanish fleet under Admiral Cervera was 
blockaded in Santiago Bay, Admiral Sampson con- 




The Merrimac Entering Santiago Harbor, June 3, iS 



SPIRIT OF AMERICAN SOLDIERS AND SAILORS 155 

Plan to Sink the Merrimac Lieutenant Hobson Assigned 

ceived the idea of making the blockade doubly sure by- 
placing an obstruction in the mouth of the narrow en- 
trance so that no ship could pass. The channel was 
but about three hundred and fifty feet wide and such 
an obstruction, rightly placed, would close it altogether. 

During the run of the flagship from Key West to 
join the blockaders at Santiago, the Admiral, with 
young Naval Constructor Richmond Pearson Hobson, 
perfected a plan for doing this. It was to take the 
collier Merrimac, loaded with coal, into the mouth of 
the harbor, drop her anchors, shatter her hull with 
small torpedoes, and sink her lengthwise across the 
opening. The collier was nearly as long as the width 
of the channel. If this could be done it would relieve 
in some measure the vigilance of the blockading squad- 
ron and perhaps allow some of the vessels to be with- 
drawn for needed service elsewhere. But if it was to 
be undertaken it would have to be by cool-headed and 
heroic men taking their lives in their hands. The old 
vessel would require to be taken into the fire of the 
shore batteries and of the Spanish fleet, and then the 
men, if any still lived, would have to leave her. De- 
tection was certain and the possibility of escape with 
life was exceedingly remote. 

The bright naval constructor was given the coveted 
honor of carrying out the plan which he had largely 
developed. He was a young man from Alabama, 
twenty-seven years of age. He graduated at the 
Naval Academy in the class of '89, being the young- 
est member and standing at the head of his class. 



156 THE RESCUE OF CUBA 

Hobson's Seven Comrades The First Start too Late 

After some sea service he gave his closest attention to 
construction of vessels. He was sent to Europe to 
study, and afterwards proposed and conducted a post- 
graduate course in naval architecture at the Academy 
at Annapolis. He had already shown himself to be a 
gentleman, a student, and an adept at practical affairs. 
Now he was to prove that he was a hero. 

Six men were wanted to assist him in his perilous 
undertaking, and volunteers were called for. On the 
flagship New York alone, three hundred men asked 
for leave to go and give their lives, if it should be so, 
to their country's service; a proportionate number re- 
sponded upon each of the other vessels; indeed nearly 
every man in the fleet was ready. The six men selected 
were Daniel Montague, George Charette, J. C. Murphy, 
Oscar Diegnan, John P. Phillips, and John Kelly. Ru- 
dolph Clausen from the New York also remained on 
board of the Merrimac, longing to be one of the party, 
and was finally allowed to go. 

It was arranged that they should enter the harbor at 
about half-past three on the morning of the 2nd of 
June. At that hour the tide would be running in, the 
moon would have set, and there would be an hour and 
a half of darkness before daylight. But after working 
well through the night, they could not get the collier 
ready in time and started a little late; consequently 
Admiral Sampson called them back and directed them, 
much to their disappointment, to wait until the next 
morning. 

On the following morning, accordingly, all being 



SPIRIT OF AMERICAN SOLDIERS AND SAILORS 167 

The Merrimac Enters the Harbor Attempt at Rescue 

ready, they started in just after moonset, and half an 
hour before dawn. The gallant little crew were dressed 
in nothing but their underclothes and life-preservers; 
each had a revolver strapped to his waist. Every 
vessel in the American fleet was on the alert ; every 
man's nerves were at the highest tension over the suc- 
cess of the project and the fate of his comrades. Thou- 
sands of eyes peered through the gloom to watch the 
old collier approach the mouth of the harbor and dis- 
appear. The scene was quickly lighted by the sheets 
of fire from Morro Castle and the other batteries upon 
the shores. It seemed impossible for human life to 
exist at all in that deadly and concentrated fire. The 
watching crews dared hope no more than that the Mer- 
rimac was in position across the channel before she 
sank. The steam-launch of the New York, which had 
followed the Merrimac to pick up the crew if possible, 
was seen to attract the fire of the big guns; in time she 
steamed back to the flagship without any of the eight 
men. Her young commander. Cadet Joseph W. Pow- 
ell, of Oswego, New York, a pupil and friend of Lieu- 
tenant Hobson, reported to the Admiral that he had 
been unable to find any of them. He had gone close 
under the batteries and waited until all hope of rescue 
had to be abandoned. 

But as by miracle the men of the expedition had not 
perished. Having steered the ship to the appointed 
spot, Hobson gave the orders which should result in 
her being swung across the channel and sunk. But in 
the downpour of shot and shell the Merrimac's rudder 



1&» THE RESCUE OF CUBA 

The Merrimac Sinks under Fire Every Man Alive 

had been shot away and also her stern anchor ; more- 
over the electric batteries were so damaged that only 
part of the torpedoes attached around the hull could 
be exploded. Consequently, instead of sinking where 
intended, the vessel drifted rudderless with the tide 
far past the narrow neck. But she was sinking steadily ; 
her own torpedoes and the enemy's shells had opened 
her sides, and the water was rushing in. 

According to the carefully arranged plans, the 
crew were to leap into the water as the vessel sank, 
and swim to the rowboat in tow ; if the boat was dam- 
aged there was the life-raft on deck. But the fire was 
so incessant and sweeping, and so lighted was the scene 
by the continuous flash, that it would have been mad- 
ness at that close range for the crew to show them- 
selves for an instant. So Hobson made his men lie flat 
on deck and wait for the ship to sink, or for the fire 
finally to cease and for Spanish ofificers to whom they 
could surrender to approach. It was a terrible waiting 
while every great gun and the Mauser rifles of the 
soldiers were pouring their fire upon the ship, and the 
decks around the devoted band were being torn by 
the plunging shell. At last the end came. With a lift 
and a fall the ship went under the waves. Through 
the whirlpool of rushing waters the men rose to the 
surface and gathered around the life-raft, which was 
floating, anchored still to the sunken ship. 

Every man was there. The existence of that un- 
broken company was the greatest marvel of the entire 
war. But there was no time for wondering then. The 



SPIRIT OF AMERICAN SOLDIERS AND SAILORS 159 
Hobson Surrenders to Cervera Cervera's Courtesy 

Spanish boats were now prowling about, and had one 
man been seen, all would have been shot. So they 
clung to the raft, only their faces out of the water, and 
waited for daylight. 

When day finally broke, a steam-launch approached, 
bearing, as could be seen, an officer of high grade. To 
the men on this boat Hobson shouted: " Is there any 
officer on that boat to receive the surrender of prisoners 
of war ? " The sailors aimed their rifles, but they 
were dropped at a command and an elderly man raised 
his hand to Hobson. 

It was Admiral Cervera. The Americans were taken 
to the Spanish flagship, and in the afternoon Admiral 
Cervera sent an officer under flag of truce to Admiral 
Sampson, telling him that they were safe, and add- 
ing: " Daring like theirs makes the bitterest enemy 
proud that his fellow-men can be such heroes." In a 
day or two the newspapers in both hemispheres were 
filled with the wonderful details of their exploit, and 
their countrymen throughout the United States were 
congratulating each other that American heroism had 
added such a new and extraordinary instance to its 
annals. 

Two volunteers peculiarly interesting to the people, 
because of their previous eminence and well-known 
character, were General Joseph Wheeler and Colonel 
Theodore Roosevelt. 

General Wheeler was over seventy years of age and 
in delicate health. In his youth he had been one of 



160 THE RESCUE OF CUBA 

General Wheeler Colonel Roosevelt 

the most dashing and successful cavalry generals in the 
Confederate army, and during his later years he had 
been an honored congressman from Alabama. At the 
outbreak of the war with Spain, the venerable Souther- 
ner offered his sword to the President, who made him 
a major-general; and, under General Shafter in the 
Santiago campaign, he went from a sick-bed to the 
firing line, and displayed such activity, intrepid will, 
and wise generalship as to win the loving admiration 
of the entire country. 

Colonel Roosevelt enlisted against the decided wish 
of the President and many of the people, who felt that 
in his place as Assistant-Secretary of the Navy he 
would be of far more value to the nation than on the 
field. But Roosevelt had long foreseen the war and 
had openly favored it. Moreover, he had long urged 
upon young Americans the duty of offering their lives 
to the country in time of danger. Consequently, when 
war was declared no dissuasion could restrain him, and, 
under his friend Colonel Wood, he was made lieuten- 
ant-colonel of the First Regiment of the National 
Volunteer Cavalry. This position was given him in 
recognition of his personal experience among the rough 
riders of the plains. It was his good fortune to win 
for himself and his gallant followers brilliant credit first 
at Guasimas and then at San Juan where, on horse- 
back, revolver in hand, he led in the historic charge up 
that fire-swept slope. 

Those two men — one aged and frail, the other young 
and robust, and both nobly distinguished in civil life 



SPIRIT OF AMERICAN SOLDIERS AND SAILORS 161 
Patience of the Wounded Stephen Bonsai's Story 

— illustrated in themselves the patriotic devotedness of 
the highest type of the American citizen. 

The general testimony is that in the Santiago cam- 
paign there was comparatively little swearing and 
scarcely any grumbling. When men were on the 
firing line, marching or intrenching by night and fight- 
ing by day, and were without food, there was no 
complaining. The worst sufferers would say, " The 
Government is doing the best it can." The wounded 
had no fault to find at the delay of the surgeons and 
usually proposed that they should " help the other 
fellow first." Captain Arthur Lee of the British army, 
who was present for military study, tells of coming 
upon two men severely wounded, one of whom had 
been shot through the stomach. This man, when 
asked how he felt, answered with difficulty, " Oh, I 
am doing pretty well, sir." His companion suggested 
that the captain might find a doctor to help his friend, 
and the dying hero said: " That 's all right, Nick; I 
guess the doctors have more than they can do looking 
after them as are badly hurt, and they will be along 
soon." 

Mr. Stephen Bonsai, the correspondent, has narrated 
a tale of the stirring and characteristic heroism of young 
Lieutenant Ord and two boy privates who were with 
him in the charge upon San Juan. This is his story: 

Just after the top of the hill had been triumphantly 
reached, and while it was still being swept by the 



162 THE RESCUE OF CUBA 

Lieutenant Ord's Chivalry The Boy Private 

Spaniards' fire from a distance, Lieutenant Ord saw a 
wounded Spanish soldier on the very ridge and exposed 
to the bullets of his own comrades. Turning to two 
of his men, he said, " Take that Spaniard and carry 
him behind the blockhouse, out of the fire." The 
wounded man raised himself up, drew his revolver, and 
fired it full in Ord's face, killing instantly the gentle- 
man who was trying to save his stricken enemy and 
showing a rarer grace of thoughtfulness than even that 
of Sir Philip Sidney, who, w^hen wounded, gave his 
own cup of water to a wounded comrade. 

When Lieutenant Ord, at the head of his men, 
started on the rush up the hill, there was by his side a 
boy private from Ohio, who had joined the regiment 
just before it had left for the front. He ran close to 
Ord until he fell, mortally wounded, a few yards from 
the summit. Ord heard him give a faint cry, and 
paused in his rush to say kindly as he saw the dying 
pallor on the boy's face, " My poor fellow, I can do 
nothing for you." 

" I did n't call you back for anything like that, Lieu- 
tenant — I am done for, but I thought you had better 
take my steel nippers. There may be still another 
wire fence beyond that hill and I won't be there to 
cut it for you." 

The boy private was a worthy comrade for his chiv- 
alrous officer, and he did not die until he heard the 
shout of victory ; but he never knew that his gallant 
leader, to whom he had given such unselfish devotion, 
was lying dead not many yards away. 



SPIRIT OF AMERICAN SOLDIERS AND SAILORS 163 
The Little Flute-Player His Story of Ord 

The third of that trio was even younger, and he, 
happily, did not have to die. He was a little flute- 
player, and was found sitting by the body of Lieu- 
tenant Ord, whom he had followed that day with 
manly daring and devotedness. Another officer came 
by and scolded him for sitting at a spot which was 
no place for children, and ordered him back to the 
hospital. 

" I was going back," said the little boy. " I wanted 
to go back to the hospital and look after Colonel 
Egbert when he fell wounded, and I was doing no 
good at the front, for my flute is ruined with the mud 
and the rain. But just as I started back I heard Mr. 
Ord say, ' Now, all the boys who 's brave will follow 
me; all the boys who *s brave, follow me! ' and then 
he rushed ahead and kept that up for about half an 
hour, resting a little while and then rushing ahead. 
And every time he started up, he would shout back, 
' Now, all the boys who 's brave will follow me ! ' So 
all the boys followed him, and as I was lighter I got 
farther ahead than most." 

A cavalry colonel, who had just seen his own son 
die, listened to the little fellow's narrative, and, patting 
his shoulder, said with a smile of pleasure, " Ah, yes, 
there are many brave boys left, and you will make a 
good soldier some day." 

One of the correspondents on the Brooklyn, Mr. 
George E. Graham, who is himself a highly courageous 
boy well known to the writer, said that, during the 



164 THE RESCUE OF CUBA 

The Wedged Shell on the Brooklyn Replacing the Flag 

heat of the fight with Cervera's fleet, a shell got 
wedged into one of the guns on the side of the ship 
engaged with the enemy. Instantly Corporal Robert 
Gray of the Marine Corps crawled out on the gun's 
muzzle, rammer in hand, to drive the shell out. The 
gun was so hot he could not retain his hold and 
dropped down to the sea ladder. There with the 
water beneath him and the frightful blast of the great 
guns above him, and with the shot of the enemy plung- 
ing around him, he renewed the attempt, but could 
not dislodge the shell. Gunner Smith then tried it, 
but he too failed. Then Private MacNeal of the gun 
squad asked and received permission to try it. Cling- 
ing to the hot gun, with death by water assured if he 
dropped or was knocked off by concussion, and with 
the enemy firing at him, he got the rammer in the 
muzzle and rammed out the shell. The men cheered 
and the gun continued to do its duty. None of these 
men thought they had done anything unusual. When, 
a few minutes later, a shell crashed into the compart- 
ment just below them they laughed at the Spanish 
gunner's aim. 

Mr. Graham photographed a man in the act of re- 
placing the flag at the masthead of the Brooklyn after 
it had been shot away. The fire of the enemy was 
deadly all about him. He did his work completely 
amid the cheers of the crew and came down the mast. 
As he landed on the deck the correspondent asked his 
name. He declined to give it and disappeared in the 
crowd. 



SPIRIT OF AMERICAN SOLDIERS AND SAILORS 165 
A Clever Cuban The Daring Correspondents 

Less assistance than expected was obtained from the 
Cubans; but many were daring and at least one of 
them showed that he had his wits with him as well. 
" Shorty " Gonzales was a Cuban scout carrying dis- 
patches over the hills, through the enemy's country, on 
mule-back, for American officers. Finding that he was 
certain to be captured by the Spaniards, he took from 
his pocket his rubber tobacco-pouch, put his dispatches 
in it, and forced the whole thing down the mule's 
throat. The Spaniards searched him, found nothing, 
concluded that he was only an ordinary Cuban country- 
man, and let him go. " Shorty " went on to his des- 
tination, killed the mule, and delivered his papers. He 
got great credit for his heroism and his wit; perhaps 
the mule ought to have some commendation too. 

The daring and endurance of the newspaper men 
were no less marked than those of the soldiers. 

The leading newspapers and magazines sent their 
correspondents to the battle front. They were allowed 
upon the war vessels, and they rented dispatch boats 
and went everywhere in quest of news. No expense 
was spared. Hundreds of thousands of dollars were ex- 
pended in taking photographs and getting the latest 
news. Many newspapers issued a dozen editions a 
day and a few of them many more than that. The 
young men who gathered the news at the scenes of con- 
flict were not only accomplished writers but they were 
heroic characters. They took their lives in their hands 
to discharge their duty to their newspapers and the 



166 THE RESCUE OF CUBA 



Clara Barton and the Red Cross 



people, no less than the sailors and the troops did. 
They freely assumed all the hazards of the dangerous 
service. They were frequently under fire and several 
of them were severely wounded. Without rest, with- 
out comforts, without fear, they reported the dreadful 
scenes of war more thoroughly and quickly than the 
work was ever done before. 

There were heroic women as well as heroic men in 
the service. 

The nurses of the Red Cross under the able lead of 
Miss Clara Barton carried food, medicines, and deli- 
cacies where the carnage was worst. In any event they 
would have been angels of mercy in perilous work; 
but, because of the weakness and demoralization in the 
regular medical department, and on account of the rapid 
advance of fevers among the troops in Cuba, they were 
almost imperative to the saving of the army. Their 
presence brightened the scenes of indescribable misery 
which followed the fighting, and their aid to the sick 
and wounded saved hundreds of lives. Opposed and 
not wanted at first by the medical department of the 
army, very soon, by their helpfulness and simple, direct 
way of giving relief, they turned opposition into wel- 
come, and criticism into the most cordial cooperation. 
They came at the nick of time, and the military sur- 
geons admit the enormous value of their labor of love 
for the sick and wounded. It was a patriotic and 
heroic service which the troops and the people will 
always hold in grateful memory. 



• SPIRIT OF AMERICAN SOLDIERS AND SAILORS 167 
The President's Moral Courage and Wise Statesmanship 

While it was the intention to point out in this 
chapter only a few typical cases of great heroism in 
the face of personal danger, it is impossible to omit 
the name of President McKinley. Without encounter- 
ing the danger of the battlefield, he exhibited moral 
heroism which required even higher courage. A vet- 
eran of the Civil War, he knew and dreaded the hor- 
rors of war. Of a kindly nature, he sympathized 
deeply with the Cubans. He hoped to avert war and 
to remove the oppression through diplomacy. Yet if 
war were to come, he felt that it must be because the 
sympathies and the conscience of the nation demanded 
it. If we were to take the unprecedented step of com- 
mencing a foreign war for the purpose of helping 
others, it must be the act of a united people. Diplo- 
macy failed, and then the sentiment of the country 
unmistakably demanded that the Government should 
use force. 

While he was holding back from the final act, he was 
accused by the unthinking and radical newspapers as 
lacking in decision. But all men afterwards compre- 
hended that his seeming hesitation was the bravest and 
wisest statesmanship, for he knew the need of delay. 
Each day of waiting the people grew more united in 
supporting the war; every day of postponement made 
the army and navy more ready. Yet it required a 
supreme moral courage to withstand the reckless and 
often insolent urgency of those who loudly demanded 
an instant movement. 

When the time for action came, the President was 



168 THE RESCUE OF CUBA 

The President a Hero The People's War 

the center of control, and the invigorating force of all 
acts of warfare. Events proved that while striving for 
peace he was preparing for war. Throughout the 
struggle he was steady, patient, kindly, vigorous, and 
unyielding, — a truthful exemplification both of the 
American character and of the American feeling re- 
garding the war. Intensely patriotic, without an ill- 
timed partisanship, sorrowing with the distressed, 
believing in the justice and appreciating the dignity of 
our course, seeing the instant need of great energy 
and of overwhelming force in action, he gave power to 
the arm of the nation and then tempered its blows with 
mercy. He not only represented the best thought of 
the people of the United States, but he did it so wisely 
and so effectively as to be entitled without dispute 
to lead among the heroes. 

[ In a word, the war of the United States against 
Spain was the war of the American citizen, breathing 
the spirit of his country, against a nation which once 
dreamed of ruling the world, but which has held back 
with arrested progress for three hundred years, while 
the neighboring nations have been advancing. It was 
made by a people filled with human sympathy and the 
spirit of progress, against a people characterized by an 
incorrigible hardness of heart and a persistent rapacity 
which have proved their ruin. The war would not have 
been made if Spain's atrocities had not been perpetrated 
upon a weak people at our very doors. The crimes 
at last became intolerable to a nation of freemen. 



SPIRIT OF AMERICAN SOLDIERS AND SAILORS 169 
The Fury of a Just Indignation not Understood by Spain 

When the indignation of the people forced the Gov- 
ernment of the United States into a foreign war, the 
people were ready to fight it out, regardless of cost in 
treasure or blood, to the bitter end. They offered 
themselves for service in the army and navy in hun- 
dreds of thousands. When they went into battle it 
was with a fury that was terrible. 

Righteous indignation, in a just cause, has made the 
hardest fighters and the most sympathetic conquerors 
in all history. Spain was incapable of understanding 
either the force with which we gave her battle or the 
kindness with which we treated her defeated armies. J 



170 THE RESCUE OF CUBA 



The Peace Commission The Meeting in Paris 



CHAPTER XII 

The Settlement 

THE Peace Commission met in Paris at the begin- 
ning of October. The American Commissioners 
were the Hon. WilHam O. Day, of Ohio, who had just 
resigned the office of Secretary of State ; Senator Cush- 
man K. Davis, of Minnesota, Chairman of the Com- 
mittee on Foreign Affairs in the Senate; Senator 
WilHam P. Frye, of Maine; Senator George Gray, of 
Delaware; and the Hon. Whitelaw Reid, of New 
York. 

Spain was represented by an equal number of emi- 
nent statesmen. The proceedings of this Commission 
were marked with a distinguished dignity and courtesy. 
The basis of the deliberations was the protocol of 
peace, which was given on pages 145, 146. The Span- 
iards, however, prolonged the discussions from day to 
day by raising objections, and by trying to prove by 
ancient precedents that the American demands were 
unusual; they also sought to induce other powers to 
exert diplomatic influence upon the Americans to 
swerve them from their purpose. But our Commission- 
ers had definite instructions and they followed them 
without deviation ; they were courteous but firm. 

This straightforward American diplomacy was a sur- 



THE SETTLEMENT 171 

Straightforward American Diplomacy Substance of the Treaty 

prise both to the Spaniards and to other European 
diplomatists, who were not accustomed to the simple 
and direct methods of the Americans in saying pre- 
cisely what they meant and holding to it. Finally, 
after many weeks of discussion, a treaty of peace was 
arranged, which received the signatures of all the Com- 
missioners. 

This treaty, which was then carried back to the two 
respective Governments for ratification, was in brief as 
follows : 

Spain relinquished all title and sovereignty to Cuba. 

Spain ceded to the United States Puerto Rico and 
other Spanish possessions in the West Indies, except- 
ing Cuba, together with the island of Guam in the 
Ladrones. 

Spain ceded the Philippines to the United States on 
the payment of $20,000,000 by our Government, as in- 
demnity for actual improvements. 

Spain agreed to release prisoners held for political 
offenses in Cuba and in the Philippines. 

Spain agreed to guarantee religious freedom in the 
Caroline Islands, assuring the rights of American mis- 
sionaries there. 

The United States agreed to send the Spanish 
troops, who were evacuating the Philippines, back to 
Spain. 

The United States pledged to preserve order in the 
Philippines pending the ratification of the treaty. 

Both Governments agreed to release all military 
prisoners and to relinquish indemnity claims. 



172 THE RESCUE OF CUBA 

Spanish Disappointment Justice of American Demands 

Certain proposals by the United States as to the 
acquisition of territory in the Caroline Islands were 
left for future negotiations, after friendly relations 
had been resumed. 

The United States agreed to inaugurate in the Phil- 
ippines a generous commercial policy towards Spain. 

These were the chief provisions. There were no 
demands made by the Americans which were not 
clearly defined or involved in the protocol, to which 
both Governments had previously agreed ; yet the 
Spaniards had allowed themselves to hope that easier 
terms might be obtained through personal influence 
and arguments, and were accordingly disappointed at 
the firmness of the Americans. 

But when the cause and purpose of the war and its 
accomplishment are fully held in mind, the demands 
of the United States seem neither large nor unjust. 

The United States commenced war to liberate Cuba. 
The serious and unprecedented step was taken because 
of the natural sympathy of a free people with neighbors 
struggling for liberty. That sympathy was stronger 
because of the character Spain had borne among the 
nations. Yet no nation before had ever gone to war for 
the sole purpose of helping another people; so there 
were both deliberation and hesitation. The destruc- 
tion of an American battleship, on a visit of peace, 
causing the death of more than two hundred and fifty 
American sailors, in the harbor of a people believed to 
be capable of treachery, was a definite summons to the 
nation to investigate seriously the whole situation at 




Four Commanders Who Fought Cervera'.s Fleet. 



Captain Philip, of the Texas. 
Captain Evans, of the Iowa. 



Captain Clark, of the Oregon. 
Lieut.-Com. Wainwright, of the Gloucester. 



THE SETTLEMENT 173 



Review of the Reasons for War Effects of a United Sentiment 

once, to learn all the facts, and to demand that what 
was right should be done. 

On investigation it was learned that proceedings 
hardly less merciless than those practiced by the Duke 
of Alva in the Netherlands in the sixteenth century 
were in truth going on at our very doors. They were 
being perpetrated by the same nation and for the same 
purpose now as then. A self-respecting people could 
not permit these things in its presence, any more than 
a man of honor can see a ruffian strike a woman with- 
out interposing. Protests were made, but without 
avail. Indignation finally outran diplomacy. The 
impulse to war was so general that, notwithstanding 
the fact that it was deplored by all and opposed by 
many, it was really a national feeling, and once aroused 
it could not be stemmed ; the declaration of war was 
deliberate; the solemn act of war rested upon a sense 
of duty and of righteousness. The amazing results 
of the war surprise none more than ourselves, and are 
certain to be very far-reaching. 

No one doubted our power to drive Spain out of 
Cuba; but the rapidity and the completeness with 
which it was done astonished the world. If there was 
some halting of sentiment in the country about com- 
mencing the war, there was none about prosecuting it. 
The spirit of the whole nation was united, without re- 
gard to party, and in three months we had broken the 
power of Spain in the West Indies and had island 
empires in both oceans upon our hands, with claims 
upon our generosity and our sense of right. 



174 THE RESCUE OF CUBA 

The Enormous Cost of War Some Items of Expense 

Wealth and resources are prodigious elements in 
modern warfare. There was no uncertainty about 
getting money ; the only question was about spending 
it to the best advantage, and soon enough to satisfy the 
people. On the day of the declaration of war, the cash 
balance in the Treasury of the United States was $224,- 
541,637. The States were ready with t/ieir treasuries. 
The people were anxious to loan the Government 
thousands of millions at a low rate of interest. The 
only regret was that we had not expended more for the 
equipment of the army and navy and done it earlier. 

The cost of warfare is enormous. A few items are 
suggestive. The cost of the battleship Oregon was 
$3,791,777. The Secretary of the Navy has said that 
the cost of supplying our warships with one full equip- 
ment of ammunition was $6,500, cx)0. The coal bill of 
Admiral Dewey for the month of April was $81,872.91, 
and when he entered the harbor of Manila his vessels 
carried powder and shot and shell costing more than 
$1,000,000. Every time his ships completed the circle 
in the famous battle they fired ammunition costing 
over $100,000. The cost of a thirteen-inch gun is over 
$80,000. During the war the Government rented four 
great ocean-liners at $10,000 per day. These amounts 
are only random instances of the unusual expenses of 
war; the aggregate is startling. The Government 
actually paid out an average of $861,000 on account of 
the war each day of its continuance, and resulting 
claims will continue to accrue for fifty years. 

The nations of Europe were impressed by the prompt- 



THE SETTLEMENT 175 

Wiser Views about Preparedness Surprises as to our Fighting Quality 

ness of our financial support of the war. Americans, 
however, had their eyes opened to the danger of un- 
readiness and were annoyed that so much of the 
preparation had to be made after the outbreak. They 
were mortified at the inefficiency of the supply and 
medical departments of the army, and there was a wide 
demand that there should be a reorganization of the 
army; that it should not only be enlarged, but that 
professional soldiers rather than politicians should ad- 
minister its affairs, and that military and technical 
schools should be more generously supported. 

One of the surprises of the war, to other nations, was 
the competency of our professional officers and the 
spirit of our soldiers and sailors. The accuracy of our 
gunners, and the tremendous effectiveness of our battle- 
ships were marvels to them, for they had no idea either 
of the native ingenuity of our people or of the telling 
effect which our technical schools are having upon 
national skill. The enthusiastic bravery of our soldiers 
also, which was no surprise to us, seems to have been 
unexpected by those peoples who do not read history, 
or else do not comprehend the qualities of the Anglo- 
Saxon race, — qualities which are stimulated further by 
the peculiar conditions of American life. It was known 
to Americans that the Spaniards were fighters; but 
they did not seem to believe that we were. They were 
surprised that our battleships and even our converted 
pleasure yachts fought at close quarters with a fury they 
had never considered possible in battle, and that our sol- 
diers crawled nearer to them after every deadly volley. 



176 THE RESCUE OF CUBA 

Smallness of Aid from Cubans We Expected too Much 

Another of the surprises of the conflict was that in 
the campaign in Cuba we had so Httle aid from the 
Cubans. It must be allowed that they made very 
weak allies. But they were of another race and the 
greater part of them were unable to understand the 
steady nerve and the businessHke habits of their Ameri- 
can rescuers. The systematic way in which they had 
been deceived and robbed, in which their homes had 
been laid waste, and their wives and children starved 
by the Spanish Government had had its unhappy in- 
fluence upon their lives. They were not without 
courage, for they had defied a Spanish army of two 
hundred thousand men for several years; but they 
were not in the same class with the American soldiers. 
They could deliver a harassing blow and then get out 
of the way, but they could not advance and continue 
to advance upon intrenchments in the face of inevitable 
slaughter. 

But we had expected too much. In stature, in 
qualities which make for manhood, in military equip- 
ment, and in general effectiveness their unorganized 
forces seemed mean in comparison with American regi- 
ments. But we are to remember also that if this had 
not been so, they would hardly have needed our help. 
That they were worthy of freedom there is no question, 
for they had suffered in fighting for it more than any 
other modern people; and that they eventually will 
profit by it there is every reason to hope. But one of 
the results of the war is the insight we have gained as 
to their real qualities, their still undeveloped capaci- 



THE SETTLEMENT 177 

Union of North and South Better Relations with Great Britain 

ties for self-government, and the kind of treatment 
they require. 

One of the happy consequences of the war is the ex- 
tent to which it developed a new spirit of union among 
the American people, as nothing else has done since 
the commencement of the bitter sectional contest over 
slavery. When the call came for a warlike patriotism 
and an unbroken front against a foreign foe, the old 
differences between the North and the South seemed 
to disappear; men who had waged deadly battle against 
each other in the last generation fought side by side 
with enthusiastic, fraternal regard. In stopping op- 
pression and in helping others toward freedom, they 
gained new attachments for each other and new devo< 
tion to their common country. 

One of the most gratifying and unexpected effects 
of the war has been an improved relation with Great 
Britain. British statesmen were outspoken in their 
commendation of our course, and the British Govern- 
ment went as far as a neutral power could in giving us 
every practicable encouragement. More important 
than that was the fact that the people of the two 
countries evidently found a new liking for each other. 
The mother country rejoiced in our victories, for we 
are of one blood, and she felt as if they were her own ; 
she also seemed delighted at our departure from the 
old policy of isolation and our beginning to reach out 
to bear a hand in the affairs of the whole world. We 
on our part, warmed by this earnest friendliness and 
appreciation, began to see that our earlier enmities 



178 THE RESCUE OF CUBA 

Anglo-Saxon Unity of Spirit Our Entrance into Wider Relations 

toward her, though natural once, had been cherished 
too long. Both nations came to perceive how much 
more there was in their common blood, language, tradi- 
tions, tendencies, and beliefs to draw them together 
than there was in their old differences to divide them ; 
both appeared to have much pleasure in realizing how 
much they might do, by acting together, to make the 
freedom, the justice, and the invigorating influences 
of the Anglo-Saxon race dominant throughout the 
whole earth. 

Doubtless the most notable result of the course of 
the United States was this entrance, unintentionally, 
into the affairs of the Old World, through the unex- 
pected acquisition of the Philippine Islands with their 
seven millions of people. The effect of our presence 
upon the resources and the development of those unde- 
veloped islands must be very great, but it will be no 
less marked upon the national life of the United States 
and our relations with other nations and the common 
life of the world. 

The words of the declaration of war clearly asserted 
the purpose of the United States to drive the power of 
Spain out of Cuba, to restore peace to the island, and 
then leave it to her people to establish a government 
of their own. It was our compassion for their suffer- 
ings, more than our faith in their political capacities, 
that impelled us. 

At the time of the declaration of war, nothing 
more was thought of than to expel their oppressors and 
then to let them start for themselves. But later and 



THE SETTLEMENT 179 

Cuban Self-Government Our Duty to Cuba 

better knowledge of the Cubans raises a very serious 
doubt about their being as yet properly qualified for 
self-government, or being able to maintain a stable 
government among themselves. We have taken the 
responsibility of freeing them from Spain ; we are equal 
to the responsibility of deciding whether they are ca- 
pable of governing themselves. If they can maintain 
government as we understand the term, — that is, if 
they can give security to persons and property, assure 
religious toleration, and guarantee freedom of thought 
and expression, — our specific obligations to them are at 
an end ; if not, then we shall have to continue to regard 
ourselves as their guardians. We are bound to accom- 
plish what we undertook. We not only undertook to 
expel Spain, but also to see that a full opportunity for 
self-government was assured. We are not to allow 
Spain to return, or another power to set up monarchi- 
cal rule at our door; nor can we permit anarchy. 

No question, however, about annexing Cuba or ab- 
sorbing her people into our citizenship is yet to be met. 
That is not to be done except by the will of the Cuban 
people acting through a government of their own, or 
through a general election by citizens who can vote 
with reasonable intelligence. 

Nor is it to be done even then, unless the Gov- 
ernment of the United States thinks it well. Until 
Cuba can set up a government of her own, we are 
bound to protect her, and, so far as we can, to send to 
her schools and missionaries, books and newspapers, 
and the other instrumentalities of moral and intellectual 



180 THE RESCUE OF CUBA 

Puerto Rico The Philippine Question 

progress, so that her people may develop to the point 
where they can manage their own affairs. 

Puerto Rico and the islands of the Philippine Archi- 
pelago, with two or three others, have been acquired 
by cession in the treaty of peace. The taking of Puerto 
Rico was expected and was settled by the protocol 
agreed to by the two nations at the time of the ending 
of hostilities in August. The holding of the Philip- 
pines was a later matter about which there was differ- 
ence of opinion in the United States, although it 
seemed to be desired by the more general sentiment 
of the country. 

The capital of the Philippine Islands fell into the 
hands of the armed forces of the United States by an 
act of war. The capture of a seat of government has 
special significance in international law ; it is considered 
to carry with it the territory of which it is the capital 
city. Military occupation of the capital is deemed to 
be military occupation of the whole country. In this 
case it was clearly evident that Spanish government in 
the whole archipelago of twelve hundred islands was at 
an end unless restored by the act of the United States. 
Such an act would have been clearly unjust to the 
heavily oppressed natives. 

There were not a few Americans who thought it un- 
wise and improper to hold the islands, because, as they 
said, they did not belong to us; their people were in- 
capable of self-government and could not assimilate 
with us; we could not govern them without great ex- 
pense and without bringing corrupt influences into our 



TEE SETTLEMENT 181 



A Proper Indemnity Commercial Importance of the Islands 

own affairs; and also because their possession would be 
in violation of the Constitution and plan of our govern- 
ment, and would inevitably involve us in turmoil with 
those European nations which are trying to increase 
their territory by taking new lands in the far East. 

The reasons advanced by people of a different view, 
who insisted upon holding the islands, were as follows: 

1. That they were but a proper indemnity for the 
cost of the war, and that by universal usage the de- 
feated nation must make the expense good. At the 
close of the last war between France and Germany, the 
former was required to cede provinces and also to pay 
$1,000,000,000. After the war between China and 
Japan, the former had to give up Formosa and pay an 
indemnity of $168,000,000. When the short but fierce 
war between Greece and Turkey had ended, the Turk- 
ish frontier was extended and Greece was made to pay 
$20,000,000. But Spain had no money to pay. It 
was argued, accordingly, that the retention of the 
group was but right, and that the giving of $20,000,- 
000 to Spain for any permanent improvements she had 
made there was an act of unprecedented generosity. 

2. That the islands were commercially important ; 
were rich in undeveloped resources; that we would 
develop them while Spain would not ; that they were 
upon the natural highways of trade from our Pacific 
seaports to those of China and Japan, and thus would 
be a place of rendezvous for American merchants in 
the development of trade with those countries. 

3. That they were necessary for military purposes; 



182 THE RESCUE OF CUBA 

Beneficent Results of American Control Destiny of our Race 

that we must enlarge our power upon the seas, and pos- 
session of them would aid us in doing it. 

4. That it would open the way for the evangelisation 
of their pagan people. Only one church was operating 
there, and the general missionaries had less opportu- 
nities than in China or Japan or even in Africa. The 
Gospel should be preached by representatives of all 
the denominations, and religious liberty must be en- 
forced. This could be assured only by the United 
States. 

5. That unless the American occupancy was made 
permanent, civil turmoil would continue. Spain could 
not govern them even if the United States withdrew. 
Conditions as bad as those which we commenced the 
war to relieve in Cuba would ensue. 

6. That the Governments of Europe looked favorably 
upon our holding them, and that the Government and 
people of Great Britain desired it ; that we could not 
do less without disappointing the expectations of the 
foremost nations of the world. 

7. That we were bound to establish free institutions 
where American soldiers had, against armed resistance, 
carried the American flag; that having the opportunity 
we must carry the means of intellectual and moral 
progress to the millions of Filipinos; that it is the 
habit and the business of the Anglo-Saxon race to ad- 
vance and aggressively exert its mighty influence in 
aid of mankind and in shaping the destiny of the world. 

8. That the time had come when our national in- 
terests required that we should take our place among 



THE SETTLEMENT 183 

The Manly Course The " Consent of the Governed" 

the nations and assume our part in managing the affairs 
of the whole world ; that by so doing the world's respect 
for us would be enlarged and the good influences of 
democratic government be increased ; that we were 
abundantly able to do all this, and should suffer if we 
hesitated ; that the way would be made clear to us if we 
advanced, and that added strength would come to us 
if we obeyed the impulses of our Saxon, Dutch, and 
Norman blood and went manfully forward. 

These are the considerations which led our Adminis- 
tration, following the public wish, to demand the 
Philippine Islands, and which led the Senate to ratify 
the treaty. 

The " consent of the governed " is always a matter 
of prime importance with Americans, and so, some 
raised the question whether we had a moral right to 
set up our own rule over the Philippines when the 
natives had not given their consent. If the great body 
of these natives were capable of giving their consent 
or their refusal they should assuredly have been asked 
to express their wish. But the great mass of them are 
more ignorant than the Chinese ; and unlike the 
Chinese or the Siamese they have no national life 
which binds them together. For hundreds of years 
they have had only the government of Spain, and 
consequently have no bond of nationality. Aguinaldo 
and his army were the representatives of only a small 
portion of the people. Of the more intelligent Fili- 
pinos there was a large party against him and his 
assumptions. There were millions on the islands who 



184 THE RESCUE OF CUBA 

Aguinaldo or the United States Sincerity of Purpose 

had never heard of him. He and his army therefore 
could not be taken as expressing the wish of the 
natives, or even of a considerable number of them. 
Thus Aguinaldo's claim did not rest on the consent of 
the governed. 

On the other hand, as between the Americans' rule 
and that of Aguinaldo, there could be no question 
which would more surely and quickly lift the ignorant 
natives to a state of civilization where they could intel- 
ligently choose their form of government. Conse- 
quently, for the sake of the greatest liberty to the 
natives themselves, it seemed our duty to undertake 
the government. 

In the Philippine Islands the question of citizenship 
is not the most important one. The immediate ques- 
tion is how best to carry to them the uplifting influ- 
ences of our national life, the means of intellectual 
and moral advancement, the opportunities of liberty, 
the security and the penalties of justice. 

We maintain our rule over them only as a duty 
and for their good. We are to act at once upon 
the lesson which England learned so well at the time 
she lost the best of her American colonies, and which 
she has since followed so precisely and so advan- 
tageously ; that is, we are to govern them with even 
justice and to protect them with jealous care. The 
sincere purpose to promote their good must not be in 
doubt either here or there, or anywhere else in the 
world. It is our duty to help them forward to a self- 
government which is constitutional and secure. If we 



THE SETTLEMENl 185 

Meaning of the Ratification Our Own National Character 

can carry them to such a point as that, their govern- 
ment when established is more than likely to be of a 
kind like our own, and their people to be worthy of 
our fraternity and to desire it. 

The action of the United States Government in 
ratifying the treaty of peace, and in thus accepting 
island empires on both sides of the world, made the 
last act in the war with Spain consistent with the first, 
and with every intervening act. It proclaimed more 
than peace with Spain ; it declared for the enlighten- 
ment of the millions oppressed by Spain, and for liberty 
after enlightenment ; it pointed to stability of govern- 
ment and, as soon as may be, for self-government in 
the islands; it meant the throwing of our national 
protection over peoples who desire to be educated and 
to direct their own affairs, and a guaranty that their 
desires shall be gratified. In other words, the ratifica- 
tion of the treaty of peace, illumined as it was by the 
utterances of the President and by prevailing public 
opinion, indicated that the United States accepted 
courageously the unforeseen obligations which the war 
had thrown upon us. 

For the first time in our history we have become re- 
sponsible for the self-government of peoples other than 
ourselves. 

We need apprehend no evil. If our impulses, in- 
spired by our history, lead us to help other peoples, 
we may feel sure that they are right ; if they impel 
us to undertake new enterprises, which are consist- 
ent with the character and traditions of our race, we 



186 THE RESCUE OF CUBA 



The War was a Rescue Assurance of its Great Results 



may well believe ourselves equal to them and go for- 
ward. In no other way shall we show so completely 
the value we set upon the great charters of English 
liberty, or prove ourselves so worthy of the old Pilgrim 
at Plymouth, the ragged Continental soldier at Valley 
Forge, the hardy pioneer making new States for us in 
the unbroken West, the citizen soldier at Gettysburg, 
and the heroic men who gave overwhelming battle for 
the liberty of others at Manila and at Santiago. 

\ The war waged by the United States for the rescue 
of Cuba was but a part of the world-wide contest for 
freedom. It was by no means an unimportant part. 
There was conscience in it which could do nothing but 
go forward ; there were heroes in it whose acts will add 
luster to the pages of human history. In that it was 
waged not for gain nor revenge, not even for the rights 
of our own citizens, but for the rights of others and 
for the sake of decency in the world, it was upon a dis- 
tinctly higher plane than any previous national act of 
warfare. In its spirit, its scientific methods, its tre- 
mendous force, and its quick accomplishments, it gave 
us a new place among the nations of the earth. Yet 
the great event will not accomplish all it should if it does 
not give to us a new appreciation of the cost of free 
institutions and a new sense of our relations to human 
progress, together with new wisdom, new purposes, and 
new courage whereby to fill our new place completely./ 



THE RESULTS IN THE PHILIPPINES 187 

Permanent Policies Surprising Progress 

CHAPTER XIII 

The Results in the Phihpplnes 

IT is now ten years since the foregoing chapters of 
this book were written. They were prepared in the 
hope of impressing upon Americans — particularly our 
younger men and women, perhaps some from other 
countries who have recently become Americans, and 
possibly some who live in the islands most affected — the 
underlying causes which led the people of the United 
States to do what they did, what it cost them, and what 
they hoped the results would be. 

We are now able to speak of results with more cer- 
tainty. We are also able to speak with fuller knowledge of 
the difficulties of assuring the desired results. Ten years 
is a short period in the lives of nations, but with the new 
facilities for travel and communication, the affairs of 
states move more swiftly than they used to do. Cer- 
tainly in these ten years the purposes of the United States 
concerning the islands for which the nation has assumed 
so much responsibility have been so strongly asserted 
and the policies have become so firmly fixed, that they 
are everywhere accepted as the enduring purposes and 
the permanent policies of the American people. In these 
ten years very substantial and even surprising progress 
has been made in the way of aiding the people of these 



188 THE RESCUE OF CUBA 

Treaty of Paris Philippine Commission 

islands to qualify themselves for self-government ; and in 
helping the people of the islands, the people of the United 
States have been informing and educating themselves. 
Some treatment of this phase of the matter ought to 
make this little book more complete, and the time for 
doing it seems appropriate, for this chapter is being 
written upon the day when William Howard Taft is 
being inaugurated President of the United States. He, 
above all other men, has given form and substance to the 
sentiment of our country concerning insular adminis- 
tration, and has been the living, rational, untiring, 
forceful, and trusted representative of the nation in 
accomplishing these great ends. 

The Treaty of Paris was concluded and executed on the 
tenth day of December, 1898. For many months Admi- 
ral Dewey and the fleet remained quietly in the harbor 
of Manila while the army went forward with the work 
of establishing order, building roads, and setting up 
schools throughout the Philippines. In March, 1900, 
President McKinley appointed a commission for the civil 
government of the islands, with William Howard Taft 
as president. 

Mr. Taft, an enthusiastic and honored graduate of 
Yale, was for four years Dean of the School of Law of the 
University of Cincinnati, and at the time of his appoint- 
ment on the Philippine Commission had been eight years 
United States Circuit Judge, Sixth Circuit. He was 
appointed Governor-General of the Philippines and con- 
tinued as the chief executive of Philippine civil adminis- 



THE RESULTS IN THE PHILIPPINES 189 

Roosevelt Power of the President 

tration until he became Secretary of War by appoint- 
ment of President Roosevelt, March i, 1904. 

Colonel Roosevelt had been elected Vice-President of 
the United States at the time of the reelection of Presi- 
dent McKinley in 1900. The death of McKinley in 
September made Roosevelt President. In the meantime 
Colonel Roosevelt's former superior officer in the " Rough 
Riders," Colonel Leonard Wood, had become the Mili- 
tary Governor of Cuba and continued as such until the 
withdrawal of the army from Cuba, May 20, 1902. Soon 
thereafter he was appointed major general in the reg- 
ular army and sent to the Philippines, where he at- 
tained the supreme military command. 

The President of the United States is not a monarch. 
He is hardly a ruler. He is an executive. He executes 
the laws which are made by the representatives elected 
by the people. He cannot do things, either good or bad, 
as easily as he could do them if he were not limited by 
the laws and were not liable to impeachment or removal 
for violating the laws or for failing to execute them. 
But this very fact makes a good president a veritable 
tribune of the people and enables him to develop and 
direct sentiment, establish sound policies, secure sane 
laws and accomplish needed results more speedily and 
completely than could a monarch, of whose power the 
people were afraid. This has been strikingly and hap- 
pily illustrated by the personal qualities and the 
official attitudes of the men who have, fortunately, 
been presidents of the United States since it was de- 
termined to rescue Cuba from the outrageous domina- 



190 THE RESCUE OF CUBA 

McKinley's Attitude Judge Taft 

tion of Spain. These men have not only represented 
the national feeling but they have directed that feeling 
toward right ends. 

President McKinley nobly expressed and notably 
strengthened a sentiment which, though undeveloped, 
was resident among Americans, but which aside from that 
was new in the political progress of the world. At the 
very outset he said, "The Philippines are ours, not to 
exploit, but to develop, to civilize, to educate, to train 
in the science of self-government. This is the path of 
duty which we must follow or be recreant to a great 
trust. The question is not, will it pay? but, will we do 
what is right?" Though <speaking of the Philippines, 
his thought included all the islands and all the peoples 
with whom we have relations. President Roosevelt 
followed the policy of McKinley. Indeed, he added 
strength to McKinley's attitudes. At every opportunity 
he expressed the same sentiments in words that left 
nothing to be desired. And he was not content with 
words; his official acts and recommendations enforced 
the better sentim.ent of the country. And it disparages 
none of the other acts of either McKinley or Roosevelt 
to say that perhaps the best thing that either of them 
did was to make Judge Taft not only the vehicle for 
carrying to the islands and to the world the purposes of 
the country, but also the instrument for doing whatever 
has needed to be done. 

McKinley found in Judge Taft the right man for 
Governor-General of the Philippines. Taft left congenial 
employment and waived enviable opportunities at home 



THE RESULTS IN THE PHILIPPINES 191 

Advances No False Promises 

to undertake a difficult and even perilous service in a 
remote tropical country. He accomplished things. 
Order ensued. Confidence grew. Industries and schools 
multiplied. The State and the Church parted company. 
Charities took root. Self-respect gained a foothold. 
Comforts and conveniences were extended. Some evi- 
dences of better living became apparent. The mail 
routes were extended in all directions. Roads and 
bridges and wires aided the travel and communication 
which are necessary to progress. Thrift came to see the 
possibility of substantial rewards, and shiftlessness began 
to feel its own penalties. The influences of a rational 
government strong enough to control and honest 
enough to do right began to appear, and the desire 
to share in such a government followed hard upon its 
accomplishment . 

Yet there were no glittering or premature promises. 
The people were told that they should have a share in 
the government as soon as they had proved that they 
were capable of bearing it, and the assurance was made 
good. Quite as clearly they were told that government 
is a responsibility and a burden which can not be en- 
trusted to those who have not shown the character and 
the strength to govern safely and justly. 

Recognizing the success with which Judge Taft man- 
aged matters in the Philippines, Roosevelt asked him to 
become Secretary of War, because through the military 
occupancy of the islands the War Department had be- 
come charged with Philippine administration. In this 
way the President brought to his own council table and 



192 THE RESCUE OF CUBA 

Taft as Secretary of War No Politics 

into the position of largest influence upon Philippine 
affairs the man who was best informed and could accom- 
plish most for the Philippines; and not for the Philip- 
pines alone, but for Hawaii and Puerto Rico, which had 
come under the flag of the Union, and for Cuba, which 
was trying to learn to govern itself independently; and by 
no means for these tropical peoples alone, but for the 
people of the United States themselves. 

With the coming of Judge Taft to the President's 
cabinet, insular administration settled down to more 
definite lines, and with the passage of years the novelty 
of the situation began to wear away. Responsibility 
and accountability were established. The feeling that we 
had taken up a difficult task but would finish it in a 
year or two began to give way to the feeling that we had 
assumed a burden of significance to the world and to civi- 
lization and that we were never likely to see the end of it. 
All thought of commercial profit to the United States 
from the acquisition of the islands began to be supplanted 
by the knowledge that they were likely to bring us noth- 
ing but care, responsibility, and expense. The sentiment 
of the country was sobered a little by this knowledge and 
by these reflections, but there was no reaction. Indeed, 
the thinking of the nation became more clearly consis- 
tent and more forcefully felt. The management of the 
whole business was lifted out of politics and above the 
plane of partisanship. It came to rest very distinctly, 
not upon political or commercial considerations, but upon 
moral grounds. Our own self-respect, our generosity, our 
disposition to be of service to humanity, our claim that 



THE RESULTS IN THE PHILIPPINES 193 

No Turning Back Public Improvements 

democratic government could bear its part in the conduct 
of the world, were all drawn upon. In a word, we had 
almost unknowingly reached a point from which we could 
not turn back without humiliation and discredit to the 
nation. The very fiber of our character and the truth of 
our professions compelled us to go forward. The coun- 
try accepted the responsibility with a new understanding 
of what it meant. Sentiment solidified splendidly, and 
criticism, beyond the friendly and healthful criticism of 
incidental mistakes, practically disappeared. 

The intellectual, spiritual, and governmental evolution 
in the Philippines has gone steadily forward. Under the 
Spanish rule 200,000 children attended indifferent and 
unsystematic schools very irregularly. The schools have 
since multiplied, been articulated into a system and 
placed under the direction of competent teachers. The 
work of training native teachers is going forward 
very satisfactorily. The Government maintains two 
hundred native pupils in the advanced schools of the 
United States. More than half a million pupils have 
been brought into the schools of the Philippine Islands, 
and the average daily attendance is about three hun- 
dred thousand. The Federal Government is spending 
$2,500,000 yearly for schools, beside what is expended 
by provincial and municipal governments. 

The exports and imports of the Philippines have in- 
creased fifty or sixty per cent. 

About $25,000,000 have been already expended upon 
buildings, roads, bridges, harbors, lighthouses, and ves- 
sels for public service. 



194 THE RESCUE OF CUBA 

Free Churches Civil over Mihtary Power 

Churches are encouraged by the Government, but the 
Government has nothing to do with their support or 
control. Mission work has expanded and apparently 
without denominational difficulties. 

The military power has been present in sufficient force 
to meet any exigency, and in the southern islands it has 
at times been needed, but it has gradually and generally 
receded to make way for the continually unfolding civil 
power. 

Under the Spanish rule the Filipino had practically 
nothing to say about government, either general or 
local. Even the church he went to was ruled by the 
State, and sometimes it was corruptly ruled. 

Admiral Evans once assured the writer that the 
Spanish infantry was the most efficient in the world. 
This force ruled both the Philippines and Cuba with 
an eye only to military efficiency and the crown 
revenues. 

The American infantry had, and has, a different out- 
look and a different mission, and probably it was well 
that a more democratic military power intervened be- 
tween the Spanish rule and the attempts at self-govern- 
ment. But military government rests upon one basis, 
and civil or self-government upon another, and in the 
end one or the other must prevail. Either the army must 
determine what is justice and how much justice it will 
permit, or the people must determine through their own 
established tribunals when and to what extent there is 
need of military power. The basis of one kind of govern- 
ment is power, and of the other is right, and we Americans 



THE RESULTS IN THE PHILIPPINES 195 

Self-government Philippine Congress 

believe that there is danger when mere power is left to 
determine what is right. 

The governmental problem of first magnitude in the 
Philippines was to train an unlettered people who were 
accustomed to be ruled by unbridled military power, so 
that they would have a sense of justice, appreciate the 
vital necessity of free governmental institutions, subor- 
dinate military power to the civil power, and safely exer- 
cise the powers of government when the military control 
should be withdrawn. 

Of course self-government can advance but gradually, 
and the military government can therefore be withdrawn 
but gradually. This process has been going on steadily 
and very satisfactorily. 

Under the American rule the municipal officers are 
being elected by the people, rather than being appointed 
by the Governor of the province or the Governor-General 
of the islands. The provincial officers also, with the ex- 
ception of the Governor and the Treasurer, are chosen 
by popular vote. The Governor is chosen by the munici- 
pal councils who are themselves elected by the people; 
and the Treasurer for obvious reasons is appointed by the 
Governor-General. The people have elected a general 
assembly which, with the commission appointed by the 
President of the United States acting as the Upper House, 
constitutes a Congress for the islands. The thinking and 
some of the plans of this representative assembly are 
necessarily primitive and peculiar, but it gives abundant 
opportunity for the expression of opinions and, with the 
safeguards which have clearly been necessary, no bad 



196 THE RESCUE OF CUBA 

Insular Police Sovereignty Impossible 

results have followed. The scheme is excellent, for it 
gives opportunity to what may be good and it protects 
against what may be bad, while it educates a primitive 
people in government by real practice added to theory, 
rather than by theory alone. 

The natives have been given an even larger part in 
the judicial and police systems than in the executive or 
legislative departments of the Government. The jus- 
tices of the peace, more than half of the circuit judges, 
and three out of seven of the supreme court judges, the 
attorney-general, and nearly all the public prosecutors, are 
natives. There is a native police force of six thousand 
men, and many of their officers are natives. 

We have gone very much further in conferring political 
rights and privileges than any other nation would have 
gone, because we ourselves exercise political power with- 
out fear and we have confidence in the justice and politi- 
cal capacity of the people. Possibly we may find that 
we have gone too far or too fast. We are prone to liken 
Filipinos to our American fathers at the dawn of Ameri- 
can independence, but the comparison will limp if it 
is urged too far. It is better, however, to be con- 
fident than skeptical, at least until it is proved that 
confidence is misplaced. Men and women who have 
lived in the Philippines under this new administration 
have seen enough to admonish us that the evolution of 
self-government must necessarily be slow, and that the 
safe exercise of sovereignty by the islands at any early 
day is altogether out of the question. 

It is nowhere denied that the people of the Philippine 



THE RESULTS IN THE PHILIPPINES 197 

Unfair Tariffs Desirable Modifications 

Islands are entirely free and have every opportunity 
which they can use to express their opinions or initiate 
undertakings, and that they are abundantly protected 
in every fundamental right guaranteed by the Constitu- 
tion of the United States. 

It is denied, and the writer thinks justly denied, that 
in trade relations they have been treated with the 
generosity which should be extended to them. This lack 
of generosity has come from the fear of competition that 
is held by certain industrial and agricultural interests 
in the United States. Thus far these interests have 
been able to prevent the modifications in revenue tariffs 
which the people of the United States would very gladly 
concede to the industries of a primitive people whom they 
look upon as their wards.* This is a matter of much more 
than commercial concern, for work is dependent upon 
good markets for products, and the moral and social 
conditions of a people are dependent upon work. It 
would seem as though the most pressing and urgent and 
far-reaching phase of Philippine administration is sharply 
related to the agricultural and mechanical industries 
of the Filipinos. The subject claims intensive study by 
experts and sympathetic congressional action. The 
schools will have to train in agricultural and mechanical 
craftsmanship. Modern implements will have to be 
bought, and modern methods of using them will have to 
be taught. Seeds and the plants for agricultural pro- 
ducts heretofore unknown to the Filipinos should be 

*The Payne Tariff Bill of August, 1909, met the need here 
suggested in very substantial ways. 



198 THE RESCUE OF CUBA 

Industries The Question of Independence 

provided, and domestic animals of better blood than 
those they have, and better than is common in the 
United States, ought to be introduced. Wherever there 
is an opportunity, Government should seize it. The 
amount of money used is not important, so long as it 
really opens the way for enlarging self-supporting indus- 
tries. But above all, the United States must not allow 
its own protected industries to put the nation in a false 
light, when it comes to the industrial and moral well- 
being of a simple people whom we have undertaken 
to bring out of the darkness and into the light of self- 
progressive civilization. 

The question of the final independence of the Philip- 
pines is where it was ten years ago. It is true that there 
has been progress, but it is also true that there has been 
light which, from the Filipino point of view as well as our 
own, reveals the difficulties quite as much as the desira- 
bility of independence. The question does not have 
to be considered now. It is no more pressing than 
it was at the time when we were first called upon to 
set up a government better than the one which we were 
compelled to overthrow, or to admit a national incapacity 
wholly foreign to the moral and political attributes of the 
people of the United States. 



THE RESULTS IN CUBA 199 

Independence Responsibility of United States 

CHAPTER XIV 

The Results in Cuba 

Now let us look at the movement towards self- 
government in Cuba. Unlike the Philippines and 
Puerto Rico, Cuba did not become a part of the United 
States. But Spain was compelled to concede her inde- 
pendence. The United States, in the first act demanding 
that Spain relinquish all authority in Cuba, specifically 
disclaimed any intention of asserting its own authority 
in the island except for the pacification thereof, and 
affirmed its determination "when that is accomplished 
to leave the government and control of the island to its 
people." Nevertheless, in freeing Cuba from the govern- 
ment of Spain, the United States was not only bound to 
see to it that the people of the island established a 
government that could govern, but in introducing Cuba 
as an independent nation to the family of nations, it 
was obliged to assume very considerable responsibility 
for the character and conduct of the newcomer into the 
international world. For reasons which are obvious 
enough, we could not allow any other nation to interfere 
with her, and therefore we must at least see to it that 
her course was such as not justly to provoke foreign inter- 
ference. While this has been looked to with entire open- 
ness and directness, the policy of the United States has 



200 THE RESCUE OF CUBA 

Purposes of United States Requirements 

steadily, even persistently, and in the face of much reason 
for a contrary course, been such as to leave no ground 
whatever for doubt about the purposes of the United 
States to leave the island absolutely to itself as soon as it 
could establish a government which maintained order and 
guaranteed freedom, and did not disagreeably involve 
the United States with the other governments of the 
world. 

Accordingly, in February, 1899, Congress authorized 
the President to leave the control of the Island of Cuba 
to its people as soon as a government should be estab- 
lished under a constitution which should provide, (i) 
that Cuba would never enter into any agreement with a 
foreign power tending to impair her independence or per- 
mitting such power to obtain, either for colonization or 
military purposes, or otherwise, any control over any por- 
tion of her territory, unless with the approval of the 
United States; (2) would not contract any public debt, 
without providing for the payment of the same out of the 
ordinary revenues of the island; (3) would consent that 
the United States should have the right to intervene to 
preserve Cuban independence and good order and for 
discharging the obligations with respect to Cuba assumed 
by the United States in the Treaty of Paris; (4) would 
ratify and affirm the acts of the United States in gaining 
her independence and establishing her government; (5) 
would arrange for carrying on measures for the sanitation 
of the island and to prevent the recurrence of epidemic 
and infectious diseases which had periodically menaced 
the people of the United States; and, (6) would sell or 





Two Cuban Street Sceneb. 

Marti Promenade, Havana. 
A Pack Train, Santiago. 



THE RESULTS IN CUBA 201 

Criticism Prudence and Statesmanship 

lease to the United States certain lands for coaling or 
naval stations for the military purposes of the United 
States. 

There was severe criticism of these terms by a portion 
of the press and people of the United States, on the 
ground that in view of the early pledge of the United 
States there was nothing to do when Spain was expelled 
and peace established but to come away and leave 
the island to her own fate, whatever it might be. In 
Cuba, too, there was strong objection, vehemently ex- 
pressed in the Constitutional Convention and in the 
press, to the acceptance of terms which in any way 
limited the exercise of absolute sovereignty by the Cuban 
Government. But Cuba had reason enough to expect the 
terms imposed by the United States. The United 
States revealed no selfish purpose whatever in imposing 
them. It had none either to reveal or to conceal. 
It was trying only to assure results which would make 
it unnecessary to rescue Cuba over again. It was 
exercising only the prudence which seemed necessary to 
keep the faith of the United States with the nations of the 
world. It was imposing nothing to which any Cuban 
who desired only the independence, stability, honor, 
and good of his country could interpose any valid 
objection. There was nothing asserted by the United 
States concerning Cuba which does not seem entirely in 
harmony with sound statesmanship and the obligations 
which a rescuer and benefactor owes to himself and to 
his helpless protege and ward. There is reason enough 
to believe that the more deliberate sentiment of Cuba 



202 THE RESCUE OF CUBA 

Withdrawal of United States Retrospect 

agreed with this at the time, and it was not long before 
events transpired which abundantly proved that the 
United States had been none too cautious, and, in the way 
of prudence, had gone none too far. 

The withdrawal of the control and support of the 
United States from Cuba and the beginnings of self- 
reliance and of democratic government provide fascinat- 
ing study to one who has the least interest in the political 
sciences. The Cuban nation is small enough to mobi- 
lize rapidly if it has the inherent intellectual and moral 
qualities which are equal to the demands of self-govern- 
ment, and it is near enough to the United States and 
stands in close enough commercial relations to the Great 
Republic to be easily understood and much influenced by 
the people of the United States. The possibilities of 
democracy among a Latin people, or at least among a 
much mixed people long subject to the rule of one of the 
oldest Latin monarchies, are not to be contemplated with 
complete confidence by men and women of predominant 
Saxon blood and of still more predominant Saxon tra- 
ditions and institutions. And the influence upon the 
sentiment of the United States, arising out of the measure 
of success of Cuban independence, and out of what 
the United States does or omits to do concerning the 
same, is a matter of no small moment to the United 
States herself. 

The details or incidents must necessarily be treated 
very briefly here, but they cannot be wholly omitted. 

When the Spanish sovereignty in Cuba ended on New 
Year's Day in 1899, it had been exercised for a period of 



THE RESULTS IN CUBA 203 

Cuban Virtues Commendation for American Soldiers 

three hundred and eighty-seven years. In all these years 
there had been little peace and quiet, much confusion 
and uncertainty, and a great deal of protest, conten- 
tion and fighting. In all this there is little that is dis- 
creditable and very much that is highly honorable to the 
Cuban people. Neither ambition, industry, commercial 
sagacity, nor courage was lacking. There is little 
to show that they were naturally contentious ; and there 
is much to show that a large part of them, and the lead- 
ing part, were moved by aspirations and convictions of a 
very good order. These had necessitated frequent revolts ; 
and military revolt against the oldest, the strongest, and 
the fiercest of the Latin military monarchies had given 
them enough to do without affording much opportunity 
for study or experience in the science of political govern- 
ment. Holding untrammeled elections, submitting to 
the will of the majority, or writing constitutions which 
would assure the equal chance for every one while they 
encouraged and gave opportunities to the opinions of 
the nation, were beyond Cuban possibilities before the 
United States went to the aid of the Cuban people. 

With the withdrawal of the Spanish troops, those of 
the United States, and in some measure those of Cuba 
herself, were distributed to preserve order and quiet, and 
organized in departments to guarantee good and safe 
government. There has never been any criticism of the 
conduct of the officers and soldiers of the army of the 
United States in Cuba, and they have invariably been 
given credit for efficiency and highmindedness. With 
the distribution of troops for such continuance of mill- 



204 THE RESCUE OF CUBA 

Commerce Civil Progress 

tary authority as might be necessary to secure good order, 
the cleansing of buildings, the improvement of sanitation, 
the development of trade, and the setting up of the 
machinery of justice were undertaken. There is reason to 
think that too little emphasis was placed by the influen- 
tial representatives of the United States upon guarding 
natural resources and promoting the agricultural and 
mechanical industries; and here, as in the Philippines, 
commercial interests, protected by the American tariffs, 
undoubtedly stopped some acts by Congress which were 
due to such a people under such circumstances. How- 
ever, discussion and sentiment came to the aid of courage, 
and progress of many kinds went on rapidly. Indepen- 
dence and self-government began to assert their claims. 
Clans and factions were numerous, however, and methods 
of procedure in common use in the United States were 
wanting when the time came to make a constitution. 

In July, 1900, the United States Military Governor of 
Cuba ordered an election of delegates to a Constitutional 
Convention to be held on the third Saturday of the 
following September. He directed that the conven- 
tion then elected should meet on the first Monday of 
November to frame a constitution for the people of Cuba, 
to provide for the relations which should exist between 
the United States and Cuba, and to arrange for an elec- 
tion by the people, of officers under such constitution, 
and the transfer of the government to the officers so 
elected. 

The election was held September 15, 1900. There 
was some refusal to participate in it. This dissatisfac- 



THE RESULTS IN CUBA 205 

Piatt Amendment Constitutional Convention 

tion was caused by the requirement of the United States, 
known as the Piatt amendment, because introduced by 
Senator Piatt of Connecticut, that Cuba should agree to 
the terms of independence fixed by the United States. 
There was apparently some early confusion as to whether 
these terms were to be made a part of the Cuban Consti- 
tution. There was not much enthusiasm and no serious 
disorder. The vote was small. There were some charges 
of fraud, but none which were brought to investigation. 
Thirty-one delegates were elected and they met in 
convention at Havana at two o'clock in the afternoon of 
November 5th. The convention was called to order 
by General Leonard Wood, the Military Governor of the 
island, who made a brief address and then left the conven- 
tion to perfect its own organization and pursue its own 
course. This it did, with incidents very like possible 
happenings in the United States under the same cir- 
cumstances. There was plenty of fencing for political 
advantage, considerable bickering, much struggling in 
committees, and some very serious and creditable dis- 
cussion. In less than three months a constitution was 
adopted, on lines very similar to those of the Constitu- 
tion of the United States. 

A proposition to omit reference to God in the Constitu- 
tion met with a sharp protest and decisive action. The 
preamble sets forth the purposes of the people of Cuba, as 
expressed in the Constitution, in words very like our own, 
and declares the Constitution to be " the fundamental law 
of their organization as an independent and sovereign 
people," and invokes upon the same "the protection of 



206 THE RESCUE OF CUBA 

Articles of the Constitution Religious Freedom 

the Almighty." In answer to objections to this invoca- 
tion the convention refused to strike it out, and later 
adopted an article (No. 26) in these words: 

" The profession of all religious beliefs, as well as the 
practice of all forms of worship, are free, without further 
restriction than that demanded by the respect for Chris- 
tian morality and public order. The Church shall be 
separated from the State, which shall in no case subsidize 
any religion." 

Manhood suffrage was adopted, but not without a 
struggle. It is said that the severest contest in the 
convention was over the question whether others than 
native Cubans should be eligible to the presidency. 
This had much reference to General Maximo Gomez, who 
had been a valiant leader in the struggles for Cuban free- 
dom and was highly esteemed for his personal worth and 
military services, but was not a native Cuban. In the 
end, eligibility to the presidency was extended to natur- 
alized Cubans "who have served in the Cuban army in 
the wars of independence for at least ten years." That 
made the grizzled veteran eligible, and is the most 
notable tribute to a decisive character ever put into 
the written constitution of a state. There was earnest 
discussion of such questions as the assumption of old 
debts, the manner of choosing senators, the regulation 
of immigration, and the national control of education. 
It all reads very familiarly; and that implies that it is 
all quite creditable to the Cuban people. 

There was manifest dependence upon the general 
form and structure of the Government of the United 



THE RESULTS IN CUBA 207 

Legal Ability Shown Provision for Education 

States. In no essential is there a difference. Wherever 
there is departure from our scheme it is by way of more 
detail and particularity. In some instances it may be 
doubted whether so much reference to minute details 
in a national constitution is wise, but it may be more 
practicable in a small country than in a large one. The 
American readers will hardly fail to be struck by the 
legal learning shown by the convention. There has 
never been any suggestion, so far as the writer knows, 
that the work was done by others than Cubans ; therefore 
it is clearly to be seen that Cuba is not without com- 
petent political advisers and statesmen who have the 
right to lead. While the Constitution of the United 
States must obviously and necessarily have been in 
mind, the form was in no instance copied. The princi- 
ples which it embodies were adopted, but they were 
apparently adapted to the Cuban situation by clear minds 
and masterful hands. 

It is very democratic and it surely sufiticiently guarantees 
a republican form of government. Citizenship is clearly 
defined, and the classes of people entitled to the rights 
of citizens are distinctly enumerated. The sections set- 
ting forth the inherent and natural rights of citizens 
leave nothing to be desired, and in their comprehensive- 
ness and clarity are probably unequalled by any written 
constitution of a sovereign power. Primary education 
is declared to be both "compulsory" and "gratuitous." 
The general government is charged with providing it 
until the provinces are able to do so. " Secondary and 
advanced education will be controlled by the State." 



208 THE RESCUE OF CUBA 

Departments of Government The President 

Private educational enterprise is encouraged, but the 
State reserves to itself the control of professional and 
academic titles. It is seen that in assuming the national, 
as against the provincial, direction of education, there is 
a radical departure from the plan of the United States, 
and in reserving the control of educational honors there 
is a distinct advance which our states may follow to the 
intellectual advantage and the common credit of the 
country. 

The three coordinate departments — legislative, exec- 
utive and judicial — are provided for. The legislative 
branch is separated into a Senate and a House of Repre- 
sentatives. The duties of senators and representatives 
and the manner of choosing them are very like our own, 
but the senators are chosen by "electoral boards" con- 
sisting of the provincial councils supplemented by " elec- 
tors" selected by the voters of the provinces at least one 
hundred days before the election of senators, and one- 
half of the electors must be chosen from those " who pay 
the highest amount of taxes." The term of senators is 
eight years and that of representatives is four years, so 
arranged that all do not expire at the same time. 

The President is chosen by presidential electors and 
holds office for four years. An unwritten law of the 
United States is expressly declared in the words, "and 
no person shall be President for three consecutive terms." 
The functions of the President are similar to those of 
the President of our Republic, but he has power to ad- 
journ the Congress when an agreement " in this particular 
shall not have been arrived at between the co-legislative 



THE RESULTS IN CUBA 209 

Courts Laws 

bodies." He is required to present to the Congress, 
before the fifteenth day of each November, " the project 
of the annual budgets." He has the power to appoint 
and remove members of his cabinet without approval by 
the Senate and without more than mere notice to Con- 
gress of such action. He has the power to suspend from 
office and bring charges against provincial governors, 
after which they must be tried by the National Senate, 
and he may suspend the doings of the provinces in 
enumerated cases. This is apparently to reach some 
difficulties which are beginning to rise above the political 
horizon of the United States, and is obviously hoped to 
contribute to national unity. 

The judiciary articles of the Cuban Constitution cre- 
ated a supreme court and inferior courts, upon much the 
same plan as in the United States, to administer a system 
of laws which has been in the making since long before 
the Christian era. To those people in the United States 
who know little of the history and the spirit of what is 
called the "common law," this system seems very 
chaotic, but there is reason enough to know that it is 
entitled to great respect and is equal, when well adminis- 
tered, to all the requirements of a free and rational 
people. 

For about twenty years before the American occupa- 
tion, Spain had let the extension of her own laws go with 
the fiercer expression of her military power, and it so 
happened that, while the Cubans were insisting upon inde- 
pendence, and militarism and revolutions were struggling 
with each other, a very complete system of laws was 



210 THE RESCUE OF CUBA 

Comprehensive Plan Election of Officers 

becoming established in the island. It was not thought 
well to unsettle these laws, and ample provision seems to 
have been made for courts which can administer them 
competently. The Constitution does not contain any- 
specific authority by which the courts may declare acts 
of Congress void because repugnant to the Constitution, 
any more than does that of the United States, but the 
scheme implies it quite as much as does that of the 
United States. The Constitution does contain the some- 
what significant provision that "there shall not be 
created, under any circumstances or title whatsoever, 
any judicial commission or special courts." All in all, 
the judicial government of the island is provided for in 
an exceedingly comprehensive and clean cut fashion. 

It is not practicable at this time to go further into the 
plan of government set up in the Cuban Constitution 
for the government of Cuba, but it ought to be added 
that this Constitution is no less admirable for what it 
omits than for what it includes. There are states in our 
own Republic which might study its terms and regard its 
omissions to their advantage. 

In conformity to this Constitution an election was held 
on the 3 ist of December, 1901, for the officers of the new 
Government, and on the 24th of February, 1902, the elec- 
toral college chose T. Estrada Palma as President of the 
Cuban Republic. On the 24th of March following, the 
United States Government, through Secretary Root, 
gave directions to General Leonard Wood, the United 
States Military Governor, to arrange for the inaugura- 
tion of the new President and the starting of the new 



THE RESULTS IN CUBA 211 

Inauguration Roosevelt's Greeting 

Government on the 20th of May, and " upon the establish- 
ment of said Government to leave the government and 
control of the Island of Cuba to its people." 

The inauguration ceremonies at Havana were marred 
by no unpleasant incident; indeed, they were accom- 
panied by dispatches of congratulation, good will and 
appreciation between President Roosevelt and President 
Palma ; and without other break in continuity of respon- 
sibility, one Government gave way to another. The 
Cuban flag took the place of the American flag upon all 
the public buildings, amid much popular enthusiasm. 
In surrendering the control of Cuba to her people, Presi- 
dent Roosevelt expressed the sentiment of the United 
States when he said to the President and Congress of 
Cuba: 

" I desire to express to you the sincere friendship and 
good wishes of the United States, and our most earnest 
hopes for the stability and success of your Government, 
for the blessings of peace, justice, prosperity, and ordered 
freedom among your people and for enduring friendship 
between the Republic of the United States and the Repub- 
lic of Cuba." 

And immediately following his inauguration. President 
Palma dispatched this message to President Roosevelt: 

" The government of the island having been just trans- 
ferred, I, as Chief Magistrate of the Republic, faithfully 
interpreting the sentiments of the whole people of Cuba, 
have the honor to send you and the American people tes- 
timony of our profound gratitude and the assurance of 
an enduring friendship, with wishes and prayers to the 



212 THE RESCUE OF CUBA 

Departure of American Army Estrada Palma 

Almighty for the welfare and prosperity of the United 
States." 

Following the installation of self-government in Cuba, 
the military control of the island by the United States 
came to an end. In half an hour, the Military Governor 
(with his staff) acting for the United States, took ship 
for Washington, being accompanied to the vessel by the 
President and other officers of the Cuban government, 
and sailing away amid the friendly huzzas of the Cuban 
people. And all the troops of the United States were 
brought away as rapidly as the facilities for transporta- 
tion and the needs of the situation made it practicable. 

As this book, while hoping to conform to the facts of 
history, does not assume to be a history, it is neither 
feasible nor desirable to deal with the proceedings or 
experiences of the Palma administration. It continued 
from May 20, 1902, till October 13, 1906, when it 
solicited the United States to intervene to quell revolu- 
tion, and restore order in the island. No charges more 
serious than errors of judgment in policies or appoint- 
ment, have ever been made against it, and it is not at all 
certain that even these rested upon any substantial 
foundation. The personal character and the patriotism 
of Estrada Palma were beyond question. Nor were 
there complaints worth mentioning against other offi- 
cers of the Government. Nor yet did defects or obstruc- 
tions develop in the governmental machinery itself. The 
simple fact seems to be that the people of Cuba were too 
well accustomed to the rule of military force to accept 
calmly such civil regulations as they did not like, and 



THE RESULTS IN CUBA 213 

Troubles Politics 

they possessed temperaments which had been so often 
inflamed by revolutions that another revolution was 
the very natural, if not the very pleasing, pastime to 
indulge in. 

The tumult doubtless grew out of fundamental causes. 
The main one was the absence of responsible political 
parties which honestly upheld definite principles or poli- 
cies of government. There were parties or cliques 
enough, but they consisted of the mere followers of nat- 
ural leaders bent upon personal advantage or political 
control. Their rivalries, based upon no substantial 
principles, prevented legislation and obstructed govern- 
ment. The real aspirations of the people were without 
sufficient channels of expression and modes of effective- 
ness. For a long time the President avoided close con- 
nection w-ith any of these parties and tried to treat each 
with such consideration as its numbers and activity 
seemed to warrant. Naturally enough, this course 
failed. Principles, rather than agitators, control among 
a people who have substance and balance enough to gov- 
ern themselves. Overcome by lack of support, the Gov- 
ernment at last openly combined with the faction which 
seemed best able to sustain it, only to find the other 
factions making common cause against it and to discover 
that the combination was too strong for it. It looks as 
though the immediate cause of the revolt was the exer- 
cise of the presidential influence in provincial or munici- 
pal affairs in order to gain political support. In a word, it 
was mere " politics " and the entire absence of principles. 
President Palma had the negative rather than the 



214 THE RESCUE OF CUBA 

On the Rocks The Second Rescue 

positive virtues. He was a good man, when he needed 
to be not only an upright man but a constructive and 
progressive one. He should have made logical and work- 
able plans to achieve what Cuba most needed, and then 
should have tried in every proper way to mobilize a 
party strong enough to work out the political, moral, 
educational, and industrial salvation of the island. 
Possibly even this would not have succeeded, but prob- 
ably it would. Certainly it would if the elements which 
could effect a just and vital self-government were in the 
leaders and in the people. In any event, no other course 
could succeed. Without honest, capable, and aggressive 
leadership, or without the elements of self-government 
in the souls of a sufficient number of people, there was no 
hope. 

Our Government, in causing Cuba to bind herself to 
submit to it any situation which she could not control, 
had thereby committed itself to the necessity of dealing 
with such a situation. This was done, reluctantly but 
efficiently. Judge Taft, then Secretary of War, and 
Robert Bacon, Assistant Secretary of State, went to the 
island as a peace commission in the hope of solving the 
difficulties. It was impossible without definite and force- 
ful action by the United States. The President and 
Vice-President and members of the cabinet of Cuba re- 
signed, and the Cuban Congress dissolved without filling 
vacancies. Chaos was impending. The United States 
must put its strong hand to the business and do it at once, 
or throw away much that it had supposed it had gained 
through the war with Spain. The United States acted 



THE RESULTS IN CUBA 215 

Return of U. S. Army A Provisional Governor 

promptly, and fortunately it had the man at the forefront 
of action who could do it righteously and forcefully. 

President Roosevelt appointed the Secretary of War 
as the temporary and provisional Governor- General. 
Troops were immediately sent to the island. But no such 
military government was established as in the first in- 
stance. It was distinctly announced that the power of 
the United States was there only to support such parts 
of the Cuban Government as remained in being, and to 
preserve order, and that as soon as a Cuban Government 
could be re-established with the promise that it would be 
able to govern, the Government of the United States 
would leave it to do so, with genuine satisfaction. The 
courts were not disturbed nor the laws changed. The 
provincial and municipal governments were not inter- 
fered with. There was no interference beyond the ab- 
solute and immediate necessities of the case. There 
was neither irritation nor resentment. The leaders 
of all factions were appealed to and conferred with, 
and everything was done to quiet feelings and help the 
little sister nation to a healthful and self-respecting 
convalescence. 

It was arranged by general consent to hold an election 
for national officers, but to postpone it beyond the time 
for gathering crops, and all factions agreed to conduct it 
fairly and abide by the results. President Roosevelt ap- 
pointed Mr. Charles E. Magoon as the Provisional Gover- 
nor, and upon his assuming the post, Secretaries Taft and 
Bacon left for the United States amid the cheering of 
thousands of people who seemed to appreciate the fact 



216 THE RESCUE OF CUBA 

Palma's Hesitation Magoon's Aggressiveness 

that they had been saved from bloodshed and given 
another very encouraging opportunity. 

If the Palma government did not formulate principles 
and develop policies and appeal to the people for support, 
and thereby establish a political party with enough sub- 
stance and cohesiveness to uphold it, neither did it do 
things which would have provided the people with some- 
thing worth their while to think of and talk about. At 
the end of the Palma administration the country was 
about where it had been when the American troops were 
withdrawn. Moneys which were raised for public 
improvements were allowed to accumulate in the treas- 
ury; and a surplus in the treasury, which is a trouble to 
an old government, is a menace to a new one. Improve- 
ments were in demand, not only because the improve- 
ments themselves were needed, but because the moneys 
needed to be properly used, and the minds and hands 
of as many people as possible needed to be occupied. 
For example, better roads were absolutely necessary. 
Good roads make for citizenship, as the Romans well 
knew, and as we are learning. The Spanish Government 
had built a good macadamized road from Havana to San 
Cristobal, and expected to put it through to Pinar del 
Rio, but the work was interrupted by the American 
demand that Spain should leave the island. The com- 
pletion of this road was one of the finest opportunities 
offered to President Palma, but his virtues were merely 
negative and he did nothing toward finishing it. The 
United States Provisional Governor (Magoon) pushed the 
work and got the credit which Palma should have earned. 



THE RESULTS IN CUBA 217 

Accomplishing Things Work and Quiet 

There has been some worthless talk about the United 
States depleting the treasury of Cuba, but that is pre- 
cisely what treasuries are for, so long as proper things are 
accomplished and moneys are used as they are intended 
to be used. It is evident that the provisional govern- 
ment did accomplish things, and it has never been 
charged that there was any misuse of public moneys. 
Not only did the United States do things, in both the first 
and the second intervention, but better still, the United 
States showed Cuba how to do things. 

The provisional government was supported by a mili- 
tary force of less than six thousand men.. The civil 
government temporarily set up by the United States was 
ordered to articulate with the existing Cuban Government 
whenever and wherever possible, and the regular troops 
were instructed to attend strictly to the dull routine of 
military life unless called upon to keep the peace. They 
did it and were not called upon, for the peace was not 
broken. During two elections the " Army of Pacification " 
awaited a summons to reinforce the local police and the 
rural constabulary, but it never came. One could see no 
real need for an outside force, and could hardly realize 
that there was such a force in the island. It was all 
according to the American plan. The officers and sol- 
diers were in some instances obliged to submit to insult 
and humiliation, but they were led into no excesses. On 
the other hand, our army trained the rural guard, mapped 
the island until now all the roads and trails are known, 
promoted sanitation, and pushed along the public works. 
The regular army of the United States gave the people of 



218 THE RESCUE OF CUBA 

A Census and an Election Gomez 

Cuba reason enough to feel under obligations to it, and 
the people of the United States additional reasons for 
feeling proud of it. 

During the continuance of the provisional government 
entire quiet and good will prevailed, and much was done 
to prepare for the resumption of all activities by the 
insular government, with better promise of success than 
in the first instance. The leading men of the island, 
without regard to old differences, were brought together 
to prepare laws governing the provinces and the muni- 
cipalities, for regulating elections, for increasing the in- 
dependence of the judiciary, and for the better protection 
of the civil service. A much needed census, more relia- 
ble and informing than any which had preceded it, 
was taken in the first two weeks of November, 1907. 
Such a census is the vital basis of an honest election. 
At the time agreed upon the machinery of a general 
election was again put in operation, and in due course it 
turned out a new equipment of national officers. 

The last election seems to have been more seriously 
considered, more widely participated in, and more thor- 
oughly accepted. This time a Gomez was elected Presi- 
dent; not the old general whose fame was so wide and 
whose name meant so much, but ]os6 Miguel Gomez, who 
is a native Cuban and who seems worthy and generally 
acceptable. The new President was inaugurated on the 
29th of January, 1909, and within an hour the United 
States Provisional Governor and his associates had set 
sail for the United States on the new battleship " Maine, " 
whose very name stirs quick memories of Havana har- 



THE RESULTS IN CUBA 219 

The Second Attempt Good Will 

bor. All the United States troops in Cuba were brought 
away as rapidly as transportation could be provided. 

The inauguration of the second government of Cuba 
occurred on the birthday of Jose Marti, called the 
"Apostle of Cuban Liberty." The day was fair, the 
crowd large, and the feeling one of universal buoyancy 
and gladness. Messages of regard and good will were 
once more exchanged between the Presidents of the two 
Republics. 

There need be no doubt about the hopes of the United 
States concerning this beautiful island. Many times 
now, the government of the Great Republic has shown 
its helpfulness and proved its generous purposes. Other 
nations cannot understand why we should not want to 
absorb this people and their possessions, but the people 
of the United States are entirely sincere in the expres- 
sion of all good wishes, including self-government, to 
Cuba. This does not necessarily mean that they would 
not welcome annexation. They would perhaps have 
some pride in the annexation of such an island if it should 
appear that the people of the island are capable of 
self-government and yet wish annexation. The people 
of the United States wish it on no other basis. The peo- 
ple of Cuba, and all the world beside, ought to believe 
that there will be no deliberate act of the United States 
adverse to Cuba, and that whatever of national signifi- 
cance is done will be because of good neighborliness and 
a sense of duty. 



220 THE RESCUE OF CUBA 

Situation of Puerto Rico The People 

CHAPTER XV 

The Results in Puerto Rico 

IT will not be necessary to say a great deal of the results 
in Puerto Rico, although they have been decisive 
enough. Cuba is seven hundred miles long, about the dis- 
tance from Boston to Cleveland. It averages thirty or 
forty miles wide. Its northern shore is about a hundred 
miles from the tip end of Florida. Its population is a 
little more than a million and a half of people. The 
large island of Haiti or San Domingo lies between Cuba 
and Puerto Rico. Puerto Rico is nearly rectangular in 
form, and about a hundred miles long by forty wide. 
There are about a million of people — two-thirds as many 
as upon the much larger island of Cuba and so the 
little island is more densely inhabited. The average 
population in Puerto Rico is about two hundred and 
seventy to the square mile, while the average in the 
United States is about twenty to the square mile. 

The nationalities, and even the races, seem to be 
much mixed. The agricultural industries are common. 
The people are intelligent and keen, generally well-to-do, 
apparently more docile than those of Cuba, have led more 
peaceful lives, and in consequence have enjoyed more 
freedom from the power of Spain. The nominal inde- 
pendence of actual Spanish control at the time of the 



RESULTS IN PUERTO RICO 221 

Welcomes United States The New Government 

American occupation was quite complete. Cuba occu- 
pied the attention of Spain to an extent which caused the 
Spanish Government to leave Puerto Rico largely to 
herself, and she was pursuing her way in a quiet and 
unobtrusive fashion when the United States set up its 
sovereignty over the island. The people received the 
forces of the United States very cheerfully, even happily. 
By the Treaty of Paris Spain ceded Puerto Rico to the 
United States, and it became a part of our territory. 
The transition seemed to gratify the people of the island, 
and raised high expectations in their minds. 

In some ways these expectations have been realized, 
and in some disappointed. There were no great difficul- 
ties between the people and the military forces of the 
United States. Here as elsewhere the army and the 
navy were kept in excellent discipline, and acquitted 
themselves most creditably. The more permanent 
government established by Congress through what is 
called the "Foraker Act" is still looked upon as only 
a temporary provision for the necessities of the case, 
and not as a definite settlement of the permanent legal 
status of the island and its people. The government set 
up under this act, with leading officials from the United 
States, has, with some minor exceptions, been a good 
one. It certainly has put new energy into the industrial 
and intellectual affairs of the island, and has resulted 
in a great deal of healthful progress. But the people 
after ten years under the flag of the United States, are 
without American citizenship. They are called citizens 
of Puerto Rico, although "citizenship" of an island 



222 THE RESCUE OF CUBA 

Finding the Way Difficulties of Democracy 

which is not independent and which is under another 
great sovereignty, is an unsatisfactory thing. 

The fact doubtless is that the Government of the United 
States hardly knows what to do, and is attempting little 
or nothing in the way of meeting ultimate and far-reach- 
ing questions until it knows better what to do. There 
is some excuse because of the new and serious questions 
that are involved; for while the island is small the ques- 
tions of law and of political policy are large. There is 
manifest reluctance in the United States to the creation 
of territories beyond our continental limits with the 
expectation that they will after a time be received 
into the Union as states. This feeling may change; 
but only the steadily growing preparedness of our 
dependent peoples for American citizenship will change 
it. It seems irrevocable now; and in the meantime 
Puerto Rico seems destined, perhaps unjustly, to be 
obliged to submit to the disadvantage of it. Very likely 
the Government of the United States has not done all 
it might or all it should. Commercial interests in the 
United States may have obstructed freedom of trade. 
But it must be borne in mind that the government of a 
great democracy cannot come to conclusions as readily 
and cannot act with the quick decisiveness that is easily 
possible under a more centralized form of government. 
So, while Puerto Rico is infinitely better off than she was, 
she is experiencing the disadvantages, as well as the ad- 
vantages, of being a nice little toad with the right to play 
in a great big puddle where other toads, and often bigger 
ones, are almost too many for enumeration. But the 



RESULTS IN PUERTO RICO 228 

Progress Industries and Education 

best thing about it all is that her transfer to the flag of 
the Union has led her to long to do, and also to do, very- 
much better than she ever did before. 

The American control has led to much systematic 
road building, to some quickening of industries, and to a 
fine expansion of the school system. The imports and 
exports have increased fifty per cent. Virulent tropical 
diseases have been much lessened and mitigated through 
the work of the medical officers of the United States. 
But there is much, very much, more to be done. The 
more complete applications of scientific principles to the 
industries, particularly the agricultural industries, is 
very desirable. In this connection it is to be noted that 
Congress has extended the application of the Morrill Land 
Grant Act and other Federal aid to the educational inter- 
ests of Puerto Rico. The rainfall in the northern part 
of the island is much greater than in the southern part, 
and such a system of irrigation as we are developing in 
the western part of our country seems very desirable and 
will doubtless be introduced here too. Better than all 
else, the island is doing, and doing liberally and wisely, 
for its own intellectual and industrial advancement; 
and the outlook, aside from some sharp and apparent- 
ly justifiable dissatisfaction about the status of citizen- 
ship and the form of government, seems altogether 
cheerful and hopeful. 

It is to be very earnestly hoped that the leaders of Con- 
gress will cooperate with the Taft administration to give 
full consideration to the claims of Puerto Rico to American 
citizenship, and will provide a just and representative 



224 THE RESCUE OF CUBA 

Claims upon Citizenship 

government which will be satisfactory to the people of 
the very thrifty and ambitious little island. At least, 
all of the autonomy which Spain gave her should be 
accorded her by the United States, until she shows 
an incapacity for freedom which there is little reason 
to anticipate. The Spanish citizenship which we took 
away should be replaced with some measure of American 
citizenship. And the commercial support and educa- 
tional stimulus which Spain did not give her, should be 
given by the United States out of a generous and dis- 
criminating hand, in such measure as her needs and self- 
respect may merit. 



RESULTS IN THE UNITED STATES 225 

Government by Force Government by Law 

CHAPTER XVI 

The Results in the United States 

THERE need be added only a few concluding sug- 
gestions as to the influences of all this upon the 
sentiments and the institutions of the United States. 

It is not so long since the whole world was ruled by 
mere physical force exercised according to the purposes 
of the leaders of men. Sometimes the purposes of these 
leaders were good; oftener they were bad. Good or bad, 
they were limited by the ignorance which everywhere 
prevailed. The world conditions limited goodness more 
than badness. Commonly it was to the interest of the 
leaders to keep the people in ignorance so that they would 
not learn about human rights and could not act together in 
enforcing them. Christianity, the crusades, creeds, wars, 
great migrations resulting in new nations, discoveries, 
inventions, industries, commerce, schools, philosophies, 
the evolution of political institutions and constitutions, 
and the actual doing of things in accord with accepted 
principles of human action, have all served to bring 
many millions out from under the rule of fear, super- 
stition, greed, and power, and into the light of toleration, 
trade, freedom of thought and of action, and of lawfully 
established equality of opportunity. 

Political standards are unlike in different countries, 



226 THE RESCUE OF CUBA 

Security Liberty 

and political terms are often misleading. A constitu- 
tional government in one land is very unlike a constitu- 
tional government in another. A people may have much 
security and little liberty. Even that is better than the 
liberty which is nothing but license, and without security. 
One people may have the moral character, intellectual 
sagacity, self-restraint, and efficiency, in making public 
plans and in public administration, which make it com- 
paratively easy for them to exercise complete freedom 
to the advantage of all; while another people may be 
wholly without the qualities which make even security 
to say nothing of liberty, impossible without external and 
superior control. A people may have enough of the 
ingredients of safe self-government to enable them to 
resist the aggression of overlords, and yet not enough 
to enable them to initiate the undertakings which are the 
steps of universal progress. The power and the disposi- 
tion to do things which make for the common advantage, 
and the strength to resist the things which count 
against equality of rights and largeness of opportunity, 
show the fitness of a people for self-government and meas- 
ure the value of their political institutions. 

It is evident enough that some races of people much 
more than others have the temperaments which qualify 
them for freedom and progress. Very possibly genera- 
tions or centuries of experience may qualify such other 
races for managing their affairs, initiating the steps of 
progress, and carrying their share of the world's burdens; 
but time is yet to prove it. 

The dominant influences in the United States have 



RESULTS IN THE UNITED STATES 227 

The National Capacity The National Responsibility- 

proceeded from a race of people which has surpassed 
any other in its capacity for accomplishment and for 
progress, and the events in tne history of the United 
States have provided the best training in free initiative, 
in toleration, in self-restraint, and in the efficiency of 
action, that the world has ever known. We have enough 
yet to learn, but it is not going too far to say that we 
have learned much, and that there is promise that we 
shall be able to learn still more that it is needful for us 
to learn. 

By reason of circumstances not of our own seeking, and 
over which we had no control, the United States was 
confronted with the duty of rescuing Cuba from the intol- 
erant dominance of perhaps the fiercest military mon- 
archy in the world. There was no desire to take Cuba 
from Spain in order to enlarge our territory or increase 
our population. If Spain had given mere security to 
Cuba, certainly if Spain had not undertaken to crush 
the reasonable aspirations of the Cubans by superior 
military power and by methods that were inhuman, the 
United States would not have interfered. But when it 
came to a situation like that of a ruffian striking a little 
child at her very doorway, the United States could not 
endure it. And when she had stopped the outrage be- 
cause of an altogether unselfish and humane purpose, the 
United States became necessarily involved in the care 
of Cuba and Puerto Rico and the Philippines. And the 
discharge of that obligation has introduced us to a new 
place in the family of nations, and seems likely to exert 
considerable influence upon ourselves. 



228 THE RESCUE OF CUBA 

Obligations to Wards Gaining by Giving 

In the very nature of things we have been and shall 
continue to be bound to stand for the same things among 
the people of the islands that we have stood for among 
ourselves, so far as their inherent qualities will permit 
us to do so. We must train them in religion; not in a 
religion, but in religious freedom and toleration of reli- 
gious expression; not through the officers of the state, 
but through the religious missionary enterprises which 
are so common and so buoyant among us. We must 
train them in culture and discipline by opening to them 
every kind of school that they will use. We must train 
them in the industries by carrying the sciences into their 
everyday affairs, and by applying modern instruments 
and methods to their activities. We must train them 
in politics; not in the meanness and selfishness and sub- 
tleties of politics, but in the individualism, in the 
principles, in the organization, in the decent methods, 
and in the willingness to accept decisions until lawfully 
changed, which are vital to all stable government 
and all good administration. The only way we can 
train them in all this is by helping them to do it and 
by letting them do it for themselves. 

It is the first time in human history that one people 
has taken upon its hands another people to bring up to 
independence and self-government. And in this case 
it is one race training wholly different races. One has 
often learned that the best school for him that he ever 
attended was the one he undertook to teach. So one has 
often found that the efficient way to help himself is to 
help another. It may be that the United States is 




Copyright by Undcriuood C"' Uniiern'ood, 

Tobacco Raising and Cigar Making in Cuba. 

Tobacco under Cheese Cloth on an Alquizar Plantation. 
Making Cigars in the L.irgest Factory in Havana. 



RESULTS IN THE UNITED STATES 229 

International Fraternity Responsibility a Sobering Influence 

training and helping herself by training and helping 
these primitive peoples of the islands of the seas. 

The Saxon race has never been noted for its generosity 
to other races. It has been a very self-centered and a 
rather heavy-handed people. Weaker peoples have 
been afraid of it, as they have had reason to be. 
The South American republics have been fearful of the 
power of the United States. The course of the United 
States in dealing with the dependent peoples who have 
already come under the American flag, and particularly 
the attitudes of Ex-president Roosevelt and Secretaries 
Root and Taft, have apparently lessened the doubts of 
the republics of Central and South America, and made 
for fraternity and unity upon the American continent. 

And it has all deepened the respect of the other na- 
tions of the world for the United States. It has not 
only given them a new understanding of our physical 
power, and of our quickness and readiness in finance, and 
our efficiency in military and naval action, but it has 
given them a new interest in the educational, religious, 
industrial, and political beliefs and methods of a people 
who can show such power, expedition, and magnanimity. 
We find that we have new influence and therefore en- 
larged responsibility. 

It sobers us a little. It takes a little of the bombast 
out of our speech-making, and a little of the certainty out 
of our views of things yet in the future. We are settling 
down and squaring ourselves for a great business that 
promises to last for a long time. The novelty of the 
first months of the enterprise has worn away. We are 



230 THE RESCUE OF CUBA 

Government a Burden Better Understanding of Democracy 

realizing that we are not going to make any money out 
of it; that it is going to cost us a great deal; but we are 
coming to understand that money is a trust for the better- 
ment of the world, and that the money of a nation, be- 
yond its own reasonable needs, can be put to no better 
use than helping other peoples to help themselves. 

We are not giving much thought now to the question 
of absorption or annexation. The difficulties are loom- 
ing larger. Government looks more like a burden, and 
less like a pastime than it once did. It is becoming 
clearer to us that while we cannot have people under our 
flag, or our protectorate, without helping them and in- 
sisting that they shall make the most of themselves, we 
cannot receive people into our electorate before they can 
give satisfactory assurance that they can help us carry 
the burdens which the United States must carry. 
And it is occurring to us that by the time they can do 
that, they will want to be a part of us, or that if they do 
not we shall not want to have them. And so it is circu- 
lating among us, more and more, that if we go ahead 
and do our duty as we, through an unselfish purpose and 
free discussion, see what we ought to do, the roads we 
should take will in ample time be made plain to us. 

It can hardly fail to be evident that the course of the 
United States concerning Spain and the near and remote 
islands which in consequence of her expulsion from 
Cuba have come under our flag, has made for a better 
understanding of the fundamentals and the possibilities 
of democracy as a form of government, both at home 
and abroad. 



RESULTS IN THE UNITED STATES 231 

Revising Ideas Relations with Other Nations 

It is not to be denied that the prevailing thought 
of Americans was that the essence of citizenship in a 
democracy included the right to control the government, 
with much freedom from personal restraint, and little or 
nothing more. The common notion was that govern- 
ment had little that was very important to do, and 
that anybody who could get the chance knew enough to 
do it. "We were to have no close relations with other 
governments because of the fear of "entanglements"; 
and we were not to confer much authority upon executive 
officers or representatives because they might abuse 
power, might be too much lifted up, and might begin to 
dream of becoming kings and nobles among us. All this 
has been much modified by the new responsibilities and 
relations of the nation. The need of governmental 
efficiency, and therefore of centralized authority, has 
come to be better understood. It has come to be seen 
that while in a democracy the deliberate thinking of the 
people must determine the national policies, there is yet 
every reason why those who are to formulate and execute 
those policies should have just as much power to execute 
them as the officers of any other form of government have 
to carry out the plans to which they put their hands. 
We have come to have a new understanding of the desira- 
bility of relations with other nations ; we have come to see 
that there is more manliness, and more security, and more 
progress, in agreeable understandings with the progres- 
sive nations of the world than in national aloofness. We 
have come to know the people of other nations a little 
better and to appreciate them a great deal more, and we 



232 THE RESCUE OF CUBA 

National Progress Better Democracy 

have not only come to get a great deal out of their think- 
ing and their doings for the benefit of our own internal 
affairs, but we have found a genuine satisfaction in be- 
coming a part of a great world-wide intellectual com- 
munity of interest for promoting the peace and progress 
of the w^orld. 

All this has contributed to the uplift and the efficiency 
of government in the United States, which is affecting 
our domestic affairs even more than our foreign affairs. 
In no other period in the nation's history has there been 
anything like the intellectual, industrial, and political 
progress that there has been in the ten years since the 
Spanish war. We are developing great universities, per- 
fecting the entire educational system, adapting our schools 
to our industries, compelling our lands to yield larger and 
better crops, reclaiming arid lands, conserving waters and 
forests and mines, regulating the common utilities, en- 
larging our cities, and engaging in all manner of enter- 
prises, as never before, and as never dreamed of before. 

In the meantime, the spirit of our democracy is not 
drooping a whit. It grows stronger rather than weaker. 
The President of the United States is in less danger of 
dreaming of becoming a king than ever before, not only 
because a man with such tendencies has less likelihood 
of being chosen president, but because he knows better 
than ever before that he would be rudely waked from 
such a dream if he were to indulge in it. Political initia- 
tive is free in the land — even freer than it used to be, and 
all who are commissioned to exercise the power of the 
people and carry out their wishes appreciate well the 



RESULTS IN THE UNITED STATES 233 

Moral Forces Political Power 

desirability of neither falling short nor overreaching. 
Indeed, the present danger, if there is a danger, is in the 
failure to see that government in the United States must 
necessarily be representative and in the failure to support 
good men as well as to oppose inefficient ones. Com- 
munication is quick and universal, and the temperament 
of the people is so responsive to appeal, that public men 
often have occasion to fear demagogism and misrepre- 
sentation; but moral forces and political wisdom were 
never better organized or more aggressive than in the 
United States since the decisive unfolding of the life of 
the nation which was initiated in the war with Spain 
and marked the dawn of the twentieth century. 

It was, naturally enough, the thought of the old world 
that people who were few in numbers and much isolated 
might be able to govern themselves, but that an heredi- 
tary monarchy and an overwhelming standing army 
were imperative to a great people who were encompassed 
by other peoples, or had any part in directing the thought 
or shaping the affairs of the world. The complete suc- 
cess of the United States in a new role has modified the 
European and Asiatic conceptions of the strength and 
efficiency, and all the other possibilities, of democratic 
government. It is not at all likely that this will result 
in much apparent change in the external form of old 
world systems of government. Perhaps that is not 
immediately possible. Happily, we are better able to 
judge about that than we once were. The educational 
democracy under the political monarchy of Germany has 
been an eye-opener to us in more directions than one. 



234 THE RESCUE OP CUBA 

International Concord Human Progress 

Regardless of the external form of government the people 
of all the constitutional nations are gaining in political 
initiative and power as never before. And there are 
countries without political constitutions and legal sys- 
tems which are gathering up the knowledge, the power, 
and the courage to establish them. The substance even 
more than the forms of popular power for the universal 
good, is marching along all the highways of the world 
and breaking out roads where there were none before. 

International peace and good will have become much 
more completely assured during this last decade. The 
national arbitration conferences held under Quaker 
influences, through the munificence of Mr. Albert K. 
Smiley, at Lake Mohonk, New York, for many years, 
have borne fruit. Two notable arbitration congresses 
have been held at The Hague in the Netherlands, upon 
the initiative of President Roosevelt. About forty 
arbitration treaties have been negotiated between this 
and other countries, and many among other countries. 
A permanent international court has been provided for, 
to which national differences may be submitted. The 
sentiment of the world in behalf of peace has been 
notably advanced in a decade. Something very like 
international constitutionalism is being established 
throughout the world. 

Regardless of forms of government, the intelligence 
and humanity of the world are having their way. And 
there is no one who would have the hardihood to deny 
that in effecting all this the United States has had the 
most conspicuous and efficient part. Her political 



RESULTS IN THE UNITED STATES 235 

Inspiration to Youth A Nation to Love 

philosophy, her situation, her relations, her traditions, her 
expansion of her former principles, the straightforward- 
ness of her diplomacy and the generosity of her spirit 
have enabled her to do it ; and the world is beginning to 
give her credit and consideration for it. 

All these things are having weighty influence upon the 
people and the institutions of the United States. In 
all this there is a wealth of inspiration and suggestion 
to American youth. A country that will fight an an- 
cient monarchy, not for empire or commercial advantage, 
but to release a little neighbor from inhuman oppres- 
sion; that will assume all the consequences and unsel- 
fishly undertake to train millions of primitive people who 
live beyond its borders in all that makes for human pro- 
gress, is worthy of the utmost devotion. 

We are ninety millions of people. We have gone 
through all the hard experiences which go before political 
independence, and we have firmly established the great- 
est and the freest democracy in human history. We 
have our difficulties; we have troubles about coming to 
conclusions; we realize that we do not know all that is 
ahead; we have enough to learn and are growing more 
disposed to learn it. But we have freedom; we have 
political initiative and we intend to use it. We are 
administering our estate. We are doing for our own. 
We are growing in unity. We are bearing our world 
burdens and extending good will and good order among 
all the nations. We lack nothing in confidence or 
courage. Such a nation is worthy of our faith and our 
love and will have them in larger, and yet larger measure. 

10 



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